


the apocalypse fic

by fallfromgraceonmyface92, Maryreamy



Category: Twenty One Pilots, joshler - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Anarchy, Apocalypse, Bandits & Outlaws, Break Up, Brotherly Bonding, Dystopia, End of the World, F/M, Heroes, Infidelity, Josh's ever-changing hair, M/M, Natural Disasters, Rebuilding, Redemption, Rescue Missions, Road Trips, Romance, Save Josh, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-15 14:08:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15414678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallfromgraceonmyface92/pseuds/fallfromgraceonmyface92, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maryreamy/pseuds/Maryreamy
Summary: Tyler regrets the decision that led to Josh cutting ties with him. He's just coming to grips with the consequences of his actions when the world as he knows it is irrevocably altered, leaving he and Josh thousands of miles apart. Now it's up to Tyler and Zack to travel across the country in the midst of a horrifying natural disaster and save the love of Tyler's life or die trying.*Ey, I suck at summaries





	1. The Fallout

-  
           _A beam of orange light from the streetlight outside the window lit the malignant expression on Josh’s face as he shoved his clothes into the duffle bag at Tyler’s feet. Despite the loaded silence within the hotel room, Tyler could hear a man’s ragged coughing in the room next door. Josh’s disappointment hung palpably in the air as he forced closed the zipper on his bag. He turned wordlessly and headed for the door, tossing his keycard on the dresser._  
           _Abruptly, Tyler stood from the edge of the rumpled bed and cleared his throat. Josh froze for a moment before turning reluctantly to face him._  
“What, Tyler?” Josh asked without inflection, his duffle hanging from his shoulder.  
_“I- I don’t want you to go like this,” Tyler mumbled, unable to meet his friend’s eyes._  
_“Like what? Like a ‘hook up?’ Like a ‘friend with benefits?’ Because last time I checked that’s all this was,” Josh challenged, the anger rising in his voice for the first time._  
_Tyler ran a shaking hand over his face, “y-you’re my best friend, Josh.”_  
           _Josh gave him a bitter laugh and took a step forward._  
_“Oh, so that’s why you lead me on?” Josh inquired his brown eyes blazing with malice, “that’s why you brought me here tonight, to let me down ‘gently?’ That’s why you let me believe that there could ever be a future?”_  
_“Josh, what do you expect from me? You know that… I love Jenna. You know that the label would flip if they found out,” Tyler reasoned, the pleading tone in his voice surprising him. He stepped toward his friend slowly, his hands outstretched in front of him as if approaching a wounded animal._  
“I expected you to be honest with me… I expected you to be honest with yourself, at some point. Don’t pretend that this has anything to do with the label. We both know you don’t give a damn,” Josh spat, stepping back toward the door.  
           _Tyler sighed and was surprised to find tears rising in his eyes._  
_“I didn’t mean for it to_ **go** like this,” the short-haired man exclaimed suddenly, quickly crossing the room to place his hands upon Josh’s tense shoulders.  
_“How did you think I’d react, Tyler? Did you think I’d just smile and say it’s okay that I have loved you for years and spent too many nights holding you while you tossed and turned in your sleep? Did you think I’d just forget?!” Josh began to shout as he coldly brushed Tyler’s hands off. Tyler tried to shush him, but Josh only spoke louder._  
_“You thought that you’d just bring me to this stupid hotel and feed me stupid pizza and kiss me in this stupid, goddamned bed and let me think everything was okay, only to drop the fact that you’ve basically used me for the last 2 years? I get it, Tyler. I understand what it’s really about, though. You’re too scared to admit it. Too afraid of the consequences of your actions. But what you didn’t think about was the consequence of dragging your best friend and person who loves you more than anything through the mud. Now, I’m leaving. Don’t try to stop me.”_  
           _With that he grabbed Tyler by the back of his hair and kissed his lips so brutally, Tyler thought they might be bloodied when he pulled away. Despite that, his eyes fluttered closed and his hands took on a life of their own, reaching to caress Josh’s stubbled cheeks. However, before he could touch him, Josh had pulled away and pushed Tyler out of his space.  
_ _“Call me when you need me in the studio and no sooner,” Josh said adjusting the strap of his duffle bag. With that, he was gone with nothing more than a slam of the door._

 

-  
“Tyler? Are you okay?” A voice asked pulling Tyler from his thoughts. He forced his eyes from the grass in front of his feet and turned to face his wife.  
“Huh?” he muttered as the blonde took his hand.  
“You okay, Ty?” Jenna inquired, her blue eyes filled with concern, “you’ve had a thousand-yard stare going for like ten minutes.”  
“Oh, yeah,” Tyler vocalized, forcing a smile, “just working out a song in my head.”  
“Oh,” Jenna breathed, her radiant smile returning, “you want your notebook?”  
Tyler shook his head and kissed her on the cheek, “it’s cool, I’m going to go see if dinner is almost ready.”  
           Jenna smiled and nodded as he stood and walked from the patio, leaving her to chat with Zack and Tatum. He slipped in the sliding glass door and instead of heading for the kitchen, where he could hear his mom talking with Madison and Will, and instead crept into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind him. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Josh’s phone number. As expected, it went to voicemail shortly after.

Tyler cleared his throat after the robotic voice told him to leave a message, “hey, Josh. Um, I was just thinking about you… you know, like always and I haven’t heard a word from you in weeks. This is getting a little ridiculous. So, um, this is me… saying that I, uh, I miss you, man. Call me back.” With that, he ended the call and slipped out of the bathroom only to run into his father, Chris, on the other side of the door.  
Chris chuckled and grabbed his son gently by the shoulders.  
“Whoa, kiddo, slow down. What’s your hurry?” Chris asked of his son, taking in his strained expression.  
Tyler yet again forced a grin and told him, “I think I’m just a little dehydrated.”  
“There’s a case of water in the fridge. Have at it,” his father told him, patting him on the shoulder as he passed him into the bathroom.  
           Tyler walked into the kitchen, where his sister and her husband sat at the island, their daughter drooling over a dinner roll in Madison’s lap. His mom chuckled over an anecdote Will was telling as she stirred dressing into a salad bowl. They all turned to look at him as he passed behind them to reach the refrigerator.  
           He reached in and grabbed a bottle of water before turning to look at them, a reluctant smile on his face.  
“What?” he asked, cracking the seal on the sweating bottle. Madison wordlessly passed their daughter to Will and grabbed Tyler’s arm.  
“Come help me grab something from my car, please,” his sister instructed, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear as she dragged him from the kitchen.  
           They passed Jay in the living room, chatting obliviously over a headset as he played an online game Tyler didn’t recognize. They passed the threshold and walked toward a minivan that made Tyler feel oddly nervous. His anxiety kicked up slightly at the thought of the expectations that hung over him, to have a baby with Jenna and drive a minivan just like this. Madison pulled open the passenger seat and began to dig in her purse. When she stood up, Tyler’s nose wrinkled in distaste. Madison opened a small box, placed a cigarette in her mouth and lit it, leaning against the minivan.  
“Gross. That’ll kill you,” Tyler reprimanded, unscrewing his water bottle and taking a deep drink.  
Madison took another drag and replied, “No, what’s gross is your vibe lately. What’s up with you and Josh?”  
           At the mention of Josh, Tyler choked a little and spit the water out.  
“Nothing. What are you talking about?” Tyler inquired, suspiciously, clearing his throat.  
“Come on, Tyler. Where the hell is he? Usually, you two are sending texts constantly. Last Christmas, you walked around with him on speaker phone for an hour and a half,” Madison replied matter-of-factly.  
Despite himself, he felt a blush rising to his cheeks, “you know, he’s in L.A. Doing what Josh does.”  
           Madison took another draw from her smoke before stubbing it out on the bottom of one of her flats and dropping the butt back into her pack. She leveled her gaze into his brown eyes.  
“Like suddenly ignoring his best friend?” she quizzed, her hands on her hips, “you’ve been checking your phone all day with a frown on your face or, you know, staring off into space like you’re having flashbacks about ‘Nam.”  
“We, uh, had a fight,” Tyler muttered, scratching at his wrist tattoos anxiously. The look upon Madison’s face was one of surprise.  
“You guys… don’t fight. Like ever,” his sister replied, stunned.  
           “We fight sometimes,” Tyler told her, trying to mask his pain.  
“Yeah, over who loves each other the most. What the hell happened?” Madison demanded expectantly, “does he have a new girlfriend or something?”  
Tyler flushed again, “yeah, or something.” Madison seemed relieved then as she patted her older brother on the shoulder.  
“I mean, it was bound to happen at some point. You guys are getting older. It’s getting to the point where you guys should be starting a family.” Tyler flinched at her wording and stared down at his shoes.  
“Don’t worry so much, big brother. This is all temporary. You’re one of the most important people in his life. He’ll find a place for you. It just might not be eternally at his side,” Madison said finally and with that, left Tyler standing dejectedly in their parents’ driveway.  
           He padded back into the house to sit down next to his younger brother as he smacked talked to his online friends, button mashing and ignoring Tyler altogether. He found himself refreshing Josh’s Instagram page over and over again, looking for any details of what was happening with his friend. The more time passed from that night in the hotel, 3 weeks before, the more his doubts over his decision grew. He was uncertain whether or not he could maintain his composure in life without Josh by his side.  
           He was startled from his reverie by his mom tapping him and Jay on the shoulder.  
“Dinner is ready, boys,” Kelly said, her eyes crinkling with a matronly smile, “come make a plate.” So that was how Tyler found himself standing in line between his siblings and their respective partners, a plastic paper plate holder in his hands. He anxiously bent the fragile plastic back and forth and back and forth, again. At the counter, he grabbed a handful of chips, a spoon full of potato salad and a brat. He followed the procession of his family on to the patio in the backyard and took his place next to Jenna at a picnic table, Madison and Will filed in across from them, his niece perched between them. He mostly pushed his food around with his fork, only contributing to the conversation when Madison kicked him beneath the table.  
           The sunset was just beginning to bleed across the cloudless sky as his family spread out around the back yard. His dad and Jay casually tossed a football back and forth, chatting idly about Jay’s college plans in the coming fall. Madison, as she did more often, sat next to their mom, with Mia bouncing on her knee. Zack, Tatum and Pepper lounged in the grass, his brother swaying gently to the song playing quietly over the radio. Tyler felt guilty as Jenna sat with her head balanced in one hand, staring out into the yard where the rest of the family went contentedly about their activities.  
           Tyler heard the first notes of ‘Ride’ sound out over the yard and his family turned to him and smiled as Zack turned up the stereo. Despite that over a year had passed his family seemingly never got over the novelty of hearing Tyler’s songs on the radio. He smiled genuinely for the first time that night, hearing the fruits of his and Josh’s labor. He was tired of the song but never quite tired of the feeling of accomplishment he got when his family looked at him with such pride.  
           It was the end of the second verse when silence suddenly overtook the radio. There was a crackle of static before a male voice began calling for attention.  
**“Attention: As of 8:56 p.m. it was reported that there is an earthquake spawning from the San Andreas fault line, coming in at a 9.3 on the Richter scale. Communications are reportedly down on the west coast and-”** a shrill voice echoed in the background, interrupting the broadcast.  
**“What is it? Dear God! Ladies and gentlemen, the quake in the west has reportedly triggered fault lines, throughout the country, whose fall out cannot yet be known. At this time, it is highly recommended for all of those listening to take immediate earthquake precautions. Do not go anywhere until the authorities arrive. I repeat, do not leave where you are until authorities arrive!” You could hear a sudden ruckus over the airwaves and through static the voice screamed, “THERE ARE EXTREME TREMORS AFFECTING THE AREA! THERE ARE FISSURES OPENING IN THE STREETS- GOD HELP US ALL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!”**  
           And just like that, the radio cut to static. The first tremors were shaking beneath their feet and Madison shrieked. The family began to run inside, Chris throwing open the basement door in the hall. The family rushed down the stairs behind him, Tyler clasping tightly on to Jenna’s hand, praying that no one would fall down the concrete stairs. When they reached the basement, his father was already pulling open the doors of the bomb shelter. They filed down as quickly as possible and Tyler slammed shut and closed the padlock between the doors of the shelter as the ground commenced to heave beneath them. The children started to cry as the cracking and rumbling began all around them. Everyone dropped to curl up on the ground, tucking their heads between their knees.  
           Madison shrieked again as the small shelter went black as the power lines went down, outside. After a moment, the solar lights kicked in with a soft hum as the rumbling and shattering continued all around them. Cans and bottles fell from the metal shelves in the wall hitting the floor with an unsettling thud. Tyler’s thoughts swirled in his head and he covered Jenna’s body with his own, shivering with terror. He choked back a sob, suddenly. ** _Josh._** He couldn’t contain it as the thought of Josh lying lifeless under a pile of rubble somewhere in L.A.  
           Sobs ripped helplessly from his chest, his tears dampening Jenna’s blonde locks. She held him tighter against her when he didn’t think it was possible. He knew then, he had made his life’s greatest mistake. He had abandoned the love of his life. Now, he would never get the chance to make up for his mistakes.  
           It seemed that hours passed before the tremors lessened, leaving the Joseph’s in shock. Tyler couldn’t tell the sound of his own crying from the rest of his family’s. Dust swirled around the dimly lit room as his family sat huddled against the cold metal walls. Just when Tyler hit his absolute breaking point, his phone began to ring out a familiar tone. Without thinking, Tyler pulled himself from his wife’s grasp and jumped to his feet. He pulled his phone from his pocket and swiped right, his tears blurring his vision.  
“Josh!” he sobbed into the phone, pressing his hand to his eyes, “Josh, are you okay?” The racket from the other side was clamorous.  
“T-Tyler,” Josh cried, his voice muffled and staticky, “it’s really bad, Tyler.”  
He heard Josh whimper on the other side, “so many people are dead. I’m really scared.”  
“Are you hurt?” Tyler squealed, his voice cracking with emotion.  
“N-no, not badly,” Josh replied, becoming more and more difficult to hear over the static and background noise, “but T-Tyler, it’s… so bad. I don’t know what to do.”  
“Are you at your apartment?” Tyler asked, tears flowing uncontrollably down his cheeks. Josh explained that he was hiding in the basement, the cell signal growing worse and worse by the moment.  
           “Don’t go anywhere,” Tyler told him, an idea forming in his brain, “I’m going to come get you, man. I’m going to bring you home.” Tyler ignored the gasps from his family behind him and began to pace as much as he could in the crowded bunker.  
“Tyler, it’s too dangerous,” Josh uttered, his voice thin with fear.  
“I don’t give a damn. Please stay safe. I’ll be there as soon as I can, Josh,” Tyler told him, determination rising in his voice as the tears dried on his cheek. It was quiet on Josh’s end for a moment, save for the ruckus in the background.  
           “Okay,” Josh replied after a moment, “Tyler?”  
“Yeah, man?” Tyler asked softly.  
“I love you,” Josh whispered with a frailty that broke Tyler’s heart.  
Tyler didn’t think twice, “I love you, too, Josh.” He hung up the phone then and turned to face his family for the first time. His father rose to his feet, indignation and fear in his eyes.  
“Tyler, you can’t possibly be thinking of actually doing this,” Chris said, his hands shaking at his sides.  
“I have to,” Tyler told him, his eyes already sweeping the room for supplies.  
           “You could die, Tyler!” his mother whimpered, still huddled against the wall.  
All his emotion boiled to the surface as he shouted, “It’s Josh! I can’t leave him there! He needs to be here! He needs me!”  
He quieted, then, his family staring at him with wide eyes.  
“He needs me,” he repeated his voice barely above a whisper. Jenna pushed to her feet, then.  
           “Then I’m going with you,” his wife said, her voice shaking. Tyler was already shaking his head.  
“You can’t, Jen,” Tyler explained decisively, “it’s too dangerous. I can’t put you in harm’s way.” Jenna blanched at his words and sat back down wordlessly, her head resting on her knees, crying softly.  
“It’s not any safer for you,” Zack said detangling himself from his wife and daughter, “you’re bringing me with you.” At that, Tyler’s mother broke into sobs, anew.  
“You have a kid, man,” Tyler told his younger brother, “you’re needed here.”  
“If you go alone, you’re gonna die,” Zack said matter-of-factly, “we’re all safer here.”  
“I-I can’t stay, man,” Tyler cried, his voice wrecked as he stared at the floor.  
           “I know, man,” Zack said standing up and dusting himself off, “we have to find Josh.”  
“Nobody is going anywhere!” Their father shouted suddenly, “I am not losing any of my children.” Kelly squeezed the dazed Jay tightly as if he might stand up and try to join his elder siblings, at any moment.  
“Dad,” Zack said softly, “when has anybody ever been able to talk Ty out of anything, once his mind was set to it?” And looking as though he may faint, Chris sat wordlessly next to their mother.  
           Over the next few minutes, Zack and Tyler set upon stuffing food and water into travel packs they found in a box on one of the heavily stocked shelves along the far wall of the shelter. Tyler thanked God he’d not decided to wear flip-flops today, as he tightened the straps of his travel pack. His family stood as they prepared to leave, their mother hugging them tearfully and kissing both of their cheeks, still trembling with fear.  
They were passed around the packed bunker between their loved ones, fearful and tear-filled affection raining down upon them. At last, Tyler found himself in Jenna’s embrace. She squeezed him harder than she ever had and leaned her head on his shoulder a moment, soaking his t-shirt with her tears. She kissed him deeply and leveled her ice blue gaze upon him as she pulled back.  
           “Don’t die out there, Tyler,” she pleaded, her eyes swimming with tears before smiling softly, “And bring Josh home.” With that, the two brothers started for the metal doors.  
Tyler turned and looked at his father, “lock these doors behind us. Don’t open them for anyone other than the cops or us… or…” He let the rest of the sentence die on his tongue. He prayed that this disaster wouldn’t last long enough for them to run out of food. He put the familiar combination into the lock. His father had made all of his siblings memorize it for fear of a situation just like this. He was thankful for his father’s forethought and prayed this wouldn’t be the last time he saw his family.  
           He pushed the doors and found that they wouldn’t budge. He and Zack exchanged a wordless glance and he counted to three in his mind and the two brothers slammed their shoulders into the door. Thankfully, the doors gave and opened with a loud crack, knocking debris onto the basement floor. Tyler was startled to find that he could see the starry sky through the ceiling. He and Zack looked one last time over their shoulder at their family staring timidly back at them and closed the doors over them, praying that they’d see them again.  
           They were grateful to find that the basements concrete steps were mostly intact as they climbed to the ground floor. Tears pricked in Tyler’s eyes as he took in the destruction of his childhood home. The walls were smashed and collapsing around them as they stepped carefully and quietly through the wreckage. Reaching the driveway, they found that outside the world had fared no better than their family, trees were fallen all along the street. Destruction had overtaken every house on the street and the only sounds that could be heard were the ringing of car alarms and a distant siren.  
           Most of the vehicles in the driveway were damaged beyond repair, save for a source of Tyler’s great anxiety: Madison’s silver minivan.  
“Let’s hope Madi was as irresponsible as usual,” Zack said opening the passenger seat to dig in Madi’s purse.  
“Aha!” he murmured standing up, their sister’s keys in hand. The brothers piled into the van, Zack in the driver’s seat and Tyler in the passenger. As they pulled out on to the narrowly fissured roads, Tyler was filled with an incredible fear of what they might find as they crossed the country, but the thought of Josh in danger and alone in California was enough to steal him for what would come next. If it was the last thing he did, he would find Josh.


	2. Perseus and Andromeda

-

_ The sun had just set when Josh and Tyler left the studio for the very last time. Blurryface, other than mixing was complete. If the success of ‘Stressed Out' was anything to judge by, they had done well. Tyler felt both exhausted and exhilarated like he had spent the last year giving birth to an entirely new creature that he was now prepared to give to the entire world. He had bared his soul on this album and he hoped not that it would be successful, but that it would genuinely help someone who needed it. _

_ As it was, as he and Josh walked to the parking lot, he couldn't erase the smile from his face and neither could the pink haired drummer. Josh was glittering with a fine sheen of sweat from his drum takes and Tyler couldn't help but think that he looked more beautiful tonight than he ever had. When they reached their cars, they exchanged a long glance and found that neither of them was ready to part. _

_ "Do you want to-" they both began at the same time. A blush rose in Tyler's cheeks and he smiled up at the full moon. _

_ "You go," Josh chuckled, pushing back his mop of pink hair. _

_ They'd been friends for forever but for some reason, whether it be the magic of creating something together, this night, Tyler found that he had to force out the words, "Wanna hang out for a while?" Josh smiled gratefully and nodded. _

_ It was well after midnight when they left their cars in the parking lot and started for a nearby park, the swollen moon glowing against their skin. As they sat side by side on a picnic table near the back of the park, Tyler found that after a day of being surrounded by techs and retainers, he was grateful to just be alone with Josh. They spent a few moments looking at memes on their phones, the silence comfortable between them but nonetheless, loaded. After a few minutes, Tyler noticed Josh standing up, his eyes trained on the dark vacuum that was the sky. _

_ "What are you doing, Spooky?" Tyler asked his friend with mild concern. _

_ Josh as answer lay down in the dewy grass, staring at the sky, his arms tucked behind his head. Tyler's face warmed as Josh's shirt rose to give a peek at the V lines of his hips. _

_ Josh moved to pat the ground beside him, inviting Tyler to join him, "I'm looking at the stars." Tyler reluctantly stood, hoping Josh wasn't about to launch into a tirade about the existence of aliens, Tyler felt pretty exposed out here. He lay beside him; the wet grass dampening the backs of his clothes and felt a chill run up his spine. _

_ They lay staring into the night for several minutes, Tyler growing a little cold with the dew soaking into his clothes. _

_ He was about to sit up when Josh asked, pointing to the night sky, "do you see that W up there?" Tyler scanned the stars for a moment before his eyes fell upon the constellation. _

_ "Yeah," he breathed, shivering a little, "what is it?" _

_ "Cassiopeia," Josh answered after a moment, a note of awe in his voice, "she was a queen. She and her daughter Andromeda were insanely beautiful, but she pissed off Poseidon by implying that they were more beautiful than these sea nymphs called Nereids. So, Poseidon sent this enormous sea monster named Cetus to attack the coast that they lived on. Cassiopeia and her husband consulted an oracle, who told them that the only way to appease Poseidon was to sacrifice their daughter to the sea monster." _

_ "So, they shackled her to a rock near the sea to be killed. But somehow, a warrior named Perseus caught wind of it. He got to the coast and managed to defeat the monster and save Andromeda. They got married. Poseidon was still really pissed off at Cassiopeia, though, so he tied her to a chair in the sky so that half of the time she'd hang upside down, trapped there for all eternity." _

_ Tyler rose to hold himself up on one elbow, looking down at Josh's dreamy face. _

_ "That's pretty dark," Tyler said with a chuckle, "where'd you learn that?" _

_ "I read it in a book somewhere," Josh explained, capturing Tyler's brown eyes in his, "it's not dark, though. I mean the Cassiopeia aspect of it, maybe but I always thought that it was sort of beautiful, too. Perseus, just because he thought it was the right thing to do, came to the rescue of this woman who he'd never laid eyes on. She didn't deserve to die. She wasn't the one who had angered a freaking god. And because of these messed up circumstances, they fell in love. I think that's pretty amazing." _

_ Tyler found himself in awe, just then, at the way Josh could find grace in even the most morose details. He didn't know how exactly it had happened, but he found him suddenly leaning above Josh, staring into his eyes, his pupils blown. It was Josh, though, who closed the distance between them. His lips met Tyler's so gently if he hadn't been so acutely aware of the circumstances, he could have confused it for a soft gust of wind. Josh pulled back slowly, his eyes scanning Tyler's face for a reaction. _

_ It was Tyler's turn then to close the gap between them, lowering his body on top of Josh's, kissing him desperately. Hungrily. Josh reached up to stroke Tyler's short hair and Tyler moaned softly against his friend's lips. He found that he was in unexplored territory and he loved it. He loved the delicate fullness of Josh's bottom lip and the taste of his tongue. Though his skin was cold, somewhere deep inside, he felt so, so warm and that was better than anything he could have asked for. _

-

"Tyler," Zack asked cautiously, "Are you alright?" Tyler had found himself staring at the moon which hung turgid in the night sky like it had that night, more than two years before. The sun was soon to rise as they reached the outskirts of St. Louis. They'd been driving for over six hours and the things they'd seen hadn't given them hope for what was to come.

In Indiana, they'd seen a cornfield with a chasm so huge and deep it could have been the gaping maw of some new evil creature. However, the state seemed painfully quiet, most houses and retail areas they saw were nothing but rubble. Driving through Illinois, though, was nothing short of terrifying. Where destruction had wrought the cities, the civilians rioted, destroying what little was intact. Whether or not it was out of fear or this was just the darkness that lay in the heart of men, Tyler couldn't say. Scarier yet was that they'd barely seen more than one or two cars on the road. They were getting fearfully low on gas after six hours. Most of the gas stations they'd seen were either too dangerous to approach thanks to angry mobs or were in flames, likely because of the devastating earthquakes destroying the underground tanks.

So, when Zack shouted, "Oh, thank God! There's a Shell station up here," Tyler was ridiculously relieved. The GPS rarely worked on his phone, at this point, but when he could last get a signal he saw that it would take weeks to get there on foot.

"I really need you to drive for a while after this, Ty," his brother said, sounding exhausted, "I'm dead on my feet." Tyler hadn't spoken in hours. He had been stunned into silence. Now he found that his voice croaked as he gave his assent. They pulled into the parking lot of the fuel station which was cracked and covered in broken tree branches but otherwise intact.

The pumps looked like they still had power, but the actual station was eerily dark.

"Looks like it might be abandoned," Zack sounded, despairing, "what now?" Tyler had worked for a few months at BP after he'd turned eighteen and, he was pretty sure he understood the mechanisms that activated the pumps.

"I think I can make the pumps work," Tyler explained warily, "but we're going to have to go inside." His brother stared at him like he'd just asked him to cut off his arm. After a moment, he sighed.

"Okay, but let's hurry the hell up," Zack told him, frowning deeply, "this place gives me the fricking creeps." So, the brothers slowly exited the vehicle, their travel packs secured on their shoulders, Zack looking suspiciously at their surroundings. Tyler bent to grab a long piece of debris in case they needed to break the door open, but he was alarmed to find that the door was, in fact, unlocked.

Tyler pushed open the door and a bell jangled above him, making him jump.

"Hello," Tyler called quietly into the derelict station. His vision hadn't quite adjusted yet, but the place looked pretty ransacked. Bottles and bags littered the floor, mostly smashed. Whether from the earthquake or something else, he couldn't quite tell. Zack took his pack from his shoulders and began to shove packages and bottles that looked salvageable inside.

"What are you doing?" Tyler hissed to his brother.

"Who knows when we'll have access to food and clean water again," Zack whispered back, still stuffing the pack full as he could. Tyler shook his head, irritated at the idea of stealing before realizing that that was exactly what he intended to do with the gas. He wondered if he shouldn't leave a twenty-dollar bill on the counter before he left.

Finally, his eyes adjusted, and he laid eyes upon the counter, the top covered with broken remains of ceiling tiles. Zack zipped his backpack and stood, replacing it over his shoulders as Tyler gingerly stepped over the refuse covering the floor. He made his way behind the counter and was relieved to find that the register still had power, but the monitor was turned off. He located the power button on the screen and squinted as the light hit his eyes. As the screen loaded Tyler's shoulders dropped in defeat. The register was password protected. He looked back over his shoulder at Zack.

"There's a freaking password," Tyler told him quietly, quivering with agitation.

"Try 1-1-1-1-1," Zack said with a shrug. Tyler snorted despite himself.

Tyler was just about to attempt his brother's suggestion when he heard the telltale sound of a shotgun being cocked.

"Good luck guessing my code," said a gravelly but fearful voice. Tyler looked up to see a squat, balding man leveling a shotgun right at him. The man had a greasy sheen of sweat on his forehead and a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Tyler threw his hands in the air and Zack instinctively took a step back.

The man turned the gun on Zack suddenly, "don't even try it, boy."

Anger rose in Tyler, but he forced himself to keep his voice level as he said, "we didn't know anyone was here." The man turned the gun back to Tyler.

"I swear, I'm not going down without a fight this time," the man told them, his eyes darting back and forth between them.

"We just need some gas," Zack shouted. Tyler shot him a forbidding look over his shoulder.

"And you thought you'd just take it?" the man demanded, lowering his gun, just a little. Tyler took this opportunity to reach for his wallet. 

"Boy, are you trying to get shot?!" the man screamed, fully pointing the shotgun at him, again.

"Wait, wait, wait," Tyler shouted holding the wallet in front of him. The man sighed, sweating even more heavily. Tyler was beginning to realize that this man didn't want to kill him. Like them, he was just scared. Tyler unfolded his wallet and lay a one-hundred-dollar bill on the remnants of some ceiling tiles.

The man finally lowered the gun, at last, and laughed bitterly. The brothers exchanged a wary but relieved look.

"I hate to tell you, boys, but that's not going to do you much good," the man said flipping on a light switch behind him. Tyler shielded his eyes, unprepared for the sudden brightness.

"What do you mean?" Zack inquired, stepping slowly towards Tyler.

"It's a brave new world," the man explained with another begrudging laugh, "haven't you seen? It's the end of the world as we know it. Money's no good anymore."

Tyler felt hopeless. They had nothing to trade.

"What do you want, then?" Tyler asked blandly.

"Got anything useful to trade," the man requested, pulling a rag from his pocket to mop his glistening forehead. The brothers looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.

"Labor, it is, then," the man said putting on the safety on his shotgun and leaning it against the cracked wall.

"What did you have in mind?" Zack asked reluctantly.

"Well, I'm glad you asked," the man said with a yellow-toothed smile.

Over the next few minutes, the man explained how his fuel station had come to be quite such disarray. He explained that he had just sent his cashier home when the earthquake struck and dazed from the tremors, he attempted to call his cashier to make sure she was safe. When he turned his back, a group of boys snuck up on him and hit him over the head. When he woke, all the money in the register, his cell phone, a good amount of his salvageable wares and his wedding ring were missing.

"Okay, I'm sorry to hear that and everything but what does this have to with us?" Zack inquired, doggedly.

"Ah, but that's where you boys come in," the man explained, folding his arms behind his head, "you see, I know who was responsible. Those damned Norton twins have been causing me trouble for years. Last year, they tried to hold me up at gunpoint and it probably would have worked had they had half the wit to not bring pellet guns. I'm damned lucky they were too stupid to take the keys off me to unlock the back room and get my shotgun. I'd probably be dead right now."

"What is it you want us to do?" Tyler asked watchfully.

"You see, my wife died back in 05', she meant the world to me. She was all I had-"

"Where are you going with this, old man?" Zack interrupted, impatiently. Tyler held up a hand to stop him.

"I need you to get it back for me," the man said simply, "my ring, it's all I have left of her."

The man's eye began to moisten and despite the fear building in him Tyler said softly, "we'll do it." Zack stared daggers at him but the smile the man gave him and the promise of a full tank of gas to further their journey assured Tyler that it was the right thing to do.

"How do we get there?" Tyler inquired, placing a hand on the man's moist shoulder.

"I think you'll have a pretty easy time finding it," the man began, "it's about two blocks toward the city. The house, destroyed or not, should be relatively easy to discern. There'll be an atrocity of a green truck outside the house."

"Pray tell, how are we supposed to get in the house?" Zack demanded, hotly, "And even if we get that far, where are we supposed to find it?"

"Well, it's not like I'd rightly send you on a suicide mission," the man said with an eye roll, "I've known these boys since they were kids. I was friends with their daddy before he died, when I knew him he kept all his valuables in a rickety old safe in his office. The damned thing didn't even lock, something tells me that was the one thing that stuck with those monstrous idiots. I clearly remember a window in there that overlooked the backyard. Second of all, since their daddy died, these boys have been the biggest menace to this neighborhood. When you're the biggest crooks in town, there's no need to lock the doors and windows. Hell, after all that's happened, they may not even have doors and windows anymore."

"That's all well and good and everything," Zack retorted, "but what if their house was destroyed and they've moved on?" The man shrugged as if to say, ‘a deal is a deal.'

Tyler shouldered his pack and looked to his brother, "let's get this over with." They started down the road with Zack glowering at him.

"What, man?" Tyler asked after a few minutes of indignant silence.

"Why are you like this?" Zack asked, his jaw clenched as they walked through the dark.

"Like what?" Tyler demanded incredulously.

"You always gotta be a goddamn hero," Zack replied agitation pouring off him in waves.

"We need the gas!" Tyler exclaimed, "there's no other choice."

"There's always another choice, Tyler. We could have kept on driving. We have figure out something to trade. We didn't have to risk our lives for some damn gas," Zack spit, irately, "but once you heard the damn sob story with his dead wife, it was a done deal." Tyler was stunned into silence. They spent the next several minutes walking quietly, watching over their shoulders cautiously.

Tyler was beginning to get worried they'd never find the house in the demolished neighborhood when they saw the truck. The old man was right, it really was hideous. Even in the last hours of darkness, you could see it's bright green paint job like a beacon. It sat upon tires entirely too big for it and as they approached Tyler saw ugly graffiti on the side that read ‘Nortons 4 Lyfe.' Tyler was incredibly jealous as he took in their home.

It was small and shabby looking but other than a tree trunk that had smashed and hung across the roof, save for some broken windows, it appeared to be mostly intact. He couldn't help but think of his own childhood home and the ravaged state it was in when they left. He had to force himself to swallow the sorrow that was threatening to bring tears to his eyes and despite his anger, as Tyler looked at his brother, he could see he was thinking the same thing.

"So, what now?" Zack whispered, his eyes wide and alert despite hours without sleep.

"He mentioned a window overlooking their backyard, let's start there," Tyler said, motioning for Zack to follow.

"And hope these idiots are fast asleep," Zack added as they trekked through the side yard. Once in the dilapidated backyard, Tyler was grateful to find that there was only one window leading into the house. However, the back window had not been spared from the earthquake and had shattered, leaving jagged points of glass. Tyler sighed and removed first his travel pack, then his shirt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zack whispered in confusion. Tyler held a finger to his lips as he replaced his pack. He wrapped his hand with the shirt and began to dislodge some of the larger shards from the window pane. It took a few minutes to do quietly but when that was done, at last, Tyler unwrapped his shirt and draped it over the sill.

He waved Zack over before climbing carefully into the house. He helped Zack in behind him and they turned to look at the room. The floor was littered with detritus from the quake and the couch at the far end appeared to be covered in piles of laundry but like the old man had expected, much of the debris had been moved away from a small safe against the wall. The door seemed to be slightly ajar and Tyler felt like they'd been lucky. The house seemed quiet. He wondered if they'd abandoned the house after all as he began to toe his way across the wreckage. He squatted down before the safe and groaned inwardly when the safe door gave a squeak as he opened it. In the dark, he could see that the safe was indeed stuffed with bills but what he didn't see was a wedding band.

"I need a lighter," Tyler whispered to Zack who'd come to stand next to him. Zack undid one strap of his pack and dug in a pocket, coming away with a disposable Bic lighter. He handed it to Tyler, who flicked it and held it close enough to see the contents of the safe. Under the piles of money, he found a few cellphones and two expensive looking gold necklaces. Clearly, the old man hadn't been their only victim in the aftermath of this catastrophe. Most alarming, in the back-corner Tyler found a handgun and a box of rounds. He contemplated taking it for a moment but at the thought of actually having to use it, he felt nauseous. He passed it over.

He was just beginning to worry that this was all for nothing and the lighter was burning his fingers when his fingers stumbled over something small and cold. He closed his fingers over it and when he opened his palm he was thrilled to find it was a gold circlet of a wedding ring.

He began to stand and smiled as he turned, "Dude, I found-" In the flicker of tiny flame of the lighter saw he was face to face with an occupant of the house and if the entirely infuriated look glaring in the man's eyes was anything to go by, Tyler would have guessed it was one of the infamous Norton brothers.

"You filthy fucking son of a bitch," the Norton growled at him, "dirty fucking thief!" Tyler was just pondering the irony of this statement coming from the dirtiest thief he'd ever met when the man grabbed him by the shoulders. Tyler dropped the lighter as the man dragged him across the litter-filled room, to slam him up against the far wall.

 "You dare go through my daddy's safe?" the Norton brother demanded, venomously, "I'll kill you!" And indeed, the look in his eyes was murderous. The man held Tyler by the throat with one hand and with the other pulled the largest hunting knife he'd ever seen from the sheath at his side. In one quick moment, the knife had replaced the hand at his throat. He could feel the cold metal cut into his skin and the blood begin to trickle down to his collarbone.

He squeezed his eyes closed. He was horrified, not at the idea of his own death. He had realized that might be a risk of this journey, but he was terrified of the idea of leaving Josh afraid and entirely alone in California, not knowing what had happened to the man who loved him. He began to pray under his breath but not to God. ‘I'm sorry, Josh. I love you. Please be strong,' he thought. This happened in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, he heard a sickening crack and felt a spray of warm liquid against his face. The knife at his throat was gone and his eyes fell upon his brother, his eyes filled with rage as he beat the man over the head with a piece of rusty rebar, over and over, until he stopped moving. Tyler became suddenly aware of the sounds of people speaking and moving in the surrounding rooms and he knew he had to move but he could look away from the man's crushed skull. He couldn't stop the rusty smell of blood from invading his nostrils and he couldn't unsee the light fading from the man's eyes, despite the dark.

The footsteps were getting closer and there were a lot of them.

"Tyler," Zack said sharply, grabbing his wrist with his bloodied hands, "we have to go!" He pulled him to the window and pushed him through the opening. His travel pack caught on a shard of glass and he heard a tearing sound followed by a loud thud but before he could stop to wonder what he had lost, Zack was beside him, dragging him behind him at a full run.

They ran for what seemed like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a few minutes. When they finally stopped running Tyler was incredibly out of breath and surprised to find that he still clutched the man's ring in his hand. It had left a painful, red indent in his palm. The cut on his neck stung pretty badly but didn't appear to be bleeding too much. He felt oddly exhilarated and he surmised that it must be shocked because, in the largest chamber of his mind, he was completely horrified at everything that had happened.

Zack was silent as the gas station rose into sight, the lights off once again. Tyler wondered what he was thinking right then but couldn't bring himself to ask him if he was okay.

He spoke his first words since then, as they pushed into the door of the Shell station, "Old man, it's us!" After a moment, the old man peeked around the door at the brothers. As he stepped into the store, he took in their grisly appearance and his face fell aghast. He stepped forward more quickly than Tyler would have thought possible.

"Holy hell! Are you boys alright?" he asked them, his voice full of worry and some fear.

"I just need some water to wash off with," Zack said his voice falling into a startling monotone, "Tyler probably needs some disinfectant and bandages, though."

"The sink in the office has running water. I wouldn't try to drink but it should be fine to wash with," the old man said pointing to the door in the back that was currently hanging ajar. Tyler stood frozen as Zack disappeared into the back room. The sweaty, little man approached slowly.

"You okay, son?" he asked placing a hand gently on Tyler's shoulder. Tyler flinched at his touch and the man dropped his hand. Tyler held out a fist and turned it palm up, revealing the ring in his grasp. The old man smiled dazzlingly despite his yellow teeth and took it gingerly from Tyler. He wiped the blood off on his filthy, white button up and slipped it back on his ring finger.

"Come with me," he said, taking Tyler lightly by the arm and pulling him towards the littered counter, he went behind it and pulled out a first aid kit. He removed a little packet and ripped it open revealing a disinfecting wipe.

"Where you hurt at, boy?" the man asked, sympathetically. Tyler found the strength to point at the place where the knife had nicked his throat. The man set about wiping away the blood, dirt, and sweat that caked the area. It burned but Tyler felt too numb to feel it.

"What's your name?" the man asked with mild interest.

"Tyler," he responded, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"And your brother?" the squat man inquired, cocking his head to the backroom where the sound of running water could be heard. Before Tyler could object the man lifted the wipe and wiped the blood from his face.

"Zack," Tyler said with a sadness he hadn't quite begun to feel yet.

"I'm Lou," the man replied, taking out a small bandage and placing it against the cut, "there. That's not too bad. Should heal up just fine. Might leave a bit of a scar, though."

Just then Zack came back out, wiping his hands on a rag, which he proceeded to toss on the floor when he was finished.

"Alright, old man, our part of the deal is done," Zack stated simply.

"Lou," Tyler said quietly.

"What?" Zack asked with agitation.

"His name is Lou," Tyler explained with a shrug.

"Okay, then," Zack said turning his eyes from Tyler, "our part of the deal is done, Lou. Although for the trouble we went through to get that ring back, it'd be the kind thing to do to sweeten the pot."

Lou looked like he might argue but then his eyes fell upon Tyler's distraught face and he nodded. He gave them enough supplies to fit in two grocery bags, allowed them to fill their tank, filled two gallon gas cans for them and gave Tyler a bright orange T-shirt to wear that read ‘I Left My Heart in Mound City.' The way Tyler felt, right then, he thought it probably wasn't too far off from the truth.

"What'll you do now?" Tyler asked of Lou as Zack loaded their supplies and the gas cans into the back of the van.

"Oh, I suppose I'll stay here," Lou said smiling sadly at Tyler, "try to clean things up a bit and wait for the world to come to its senses in this tragedy. If you come this way, again, stop by."

"Tyler, let's go," Zack said impatiently, as he closed the back doors and climbed into the passenger seat. Tyler reached out and shook Lou's hand and climbed into the driver's seat. As they pulled away, he watched Lou from the rearview mirror and thanked God there were still good people in the world. The next 45 minutes were spent driving carefully through the remnants of St. Louis. What wasn't ravaged by the quake, like all of the cities they'd passed through so far, was being looted. And just when Tyler didn't think he couldn't be astonished again, in the distance he saw the Gateway Arch devastated and broken, nothing left standing but two enormous thorny beams sticking out of the earth like fangs.

Meanwhile, near the Shell station, Nathan Norton was sobbing angrily over his dead brother, Dennis' body.

"Who the fuck did this?" he screamed at the drugged-up trailer trash he and his brother had taken as lackeys. He wailed as he cradled his brother's disfigured head in his arms.

"We found something, Nathan," one of his most persistent peons named Perry said. He leaned forward offering a silver cell phone.

"We did a little digging through it and we found out it belongs to some asshole named Tyler Joseph," Perry explained wiping his nose on the back of his hands, his beady eyes hungry for approval.

"What fucking good does that information do me?!" Nathan screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Well, sir," Perry began, the first shakes of withdrawal starting in his hands,

"We checked his most recent calls and it looks like it was to somebody name Josh. He had his address in there as somewhere in Los Angeles. We checked his GPS and the last thing he entered was that same address." Nathan smiled then at the ingenuity of junkies looking for their next fix.

"Perry," he said, his voice eerily joyful.

"Yes, sir," Perry responded like a dog begging for a treat. Nathan reached in his flannel pocket before flipping a little packet filled with white powder toward the weaselly man, who grabbed it eagerly.

Nathan gingerly lay his brother's body down and stood slowly.

He stroked his scraggly beard, his eyes filled with ill will, "bury my brother, then get the truck ready. We ride for L.A. at dawn." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give a huge thank you to my friends Travis and Mary for helping me do massive amounts of proofreading and editing as well as astounding ideas for the rest of this dark, little tale. As always, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and see you next chapter.


	3. Fire Child

-

            _Tyler tried, yet again, in vain to adjust the stiff collar of his suit. The reception hall was filling steadily with he and Jenna’s family and friends. His eyes scanned the room for a tuft of red hair while sipping idly from a flute of fizzy champagne. Jenna was chatting happily with her sisters, Carrie and Kristin, dressed in an elegant, gold-colored gown. She held him tightly by the elbow as the room filled. White fairy lights hung from the rafters of the lofty ceilings and Tyler wondered where one would get a ladder tall enough to carry out such a task. Zack gave him a wave as he and a very-pregnant Tatum entered the dimly lit building. Tyler took this cue to tap Jenna’s bare shoulder and nod toward Zack. She loosened her grip on his elbow and he gratefully bee-lined for his brother, who had just seated him and his wife at one of the many white-clothed tables._

_“Fancy digs,” Zack commented, nodding towards Tyler’s uncomfortable but stylish suit. Even Tyler had to admit that the slick black suit and yellow silk tie complimented him, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit strangled in those fancy threads._

_“I feel stupid,” Tyler admitted, taking a seat next to his sister-in-law._

_“You look great in the suit, Ty,” Tatum reassured, moving a hand from her pregnant belly to pat his hand._

_“Not just the suit,” Tyler began, “I mean that’s part of it but this party. I mean, who has a one-year anniversary party, in real life?”_

_“That’s the married life for you, bro,” Zack explained with a chuckle, “you know what they say? ‘Happy wife, happy life,’ right?” Tyler nodded and grabbed a couple of finger sandwiches from a caterer passing by. He was shoving the third one in his mouth when his father amicably thumped him on the back. He stood without thinking and faced his father with a smile. He regularly video-chatted with his siblings but with their most recent press tour, he hadn’t seen much of his parents. Chris pulled him into a bear hug and Tyler couldn’t help but squeeze him back._

_His father pulled back with his eyes glistening, “long time, no see, big shot.”_

_“Good to see you, too, old man,” Tyler said playfully, earning a broad grin from his father. Chris’ eyes swept the enormous room, taking in the ice carvings, the open bar and the four-piece violin troupe setting up on the stage towards the back._

_“This is a hell of a fancy party, son,” Chris said, throwing an arm around his eldest child’s shoulders and leading him away from the table._

_“I was just telling Zack and Tatum how silly it seems,” Tyler admitted, rolling his eyes at the immaculate floral centerpieces adorning every table in the building._

_“Not at all,” Chris exclaimed proudly, “I wish I could have done something like this for your mother when we first married. Lord knows she deserved it for putting up with me. It’s nights like this that you’ll always remember.”_

_Tyler felt guilty, not for the first time, and cleared his throat, “where is mom, anyway?” If his father had noticed his attempt to change the subject, he gave no sign._

_“Over by the bar with Madi, go say hello,” his father said with one more clap on the shoulder and left him standing in the middle of the rapidly crowding hall. He spied his mother and sister ordering drinks and sauntered casually over. He tapped Kelly on the shoulder and she gave a pleased little squeak as she took him in. She hugged him to her tightly._

_“Mom,” Tyler said breathlessly against her shoulder, “you’re smothering me!”_

_She laughed and pulled away to hold him at arm’s length, looking over his gangly body._

_“You’re looking a little thin but handsome as always,” she said, dabbing her eyes with a bar napkin, “are those big studio execs keeping you fed?”_

_Madison rolled her eyes before taking a sip from her whiskey sour, “don’t blame them, mom. Tyler has plenty of grocery money, these days.” Tyler laughed and pulled his only sister into a hug. Their mother smiled delightedly and excused herself to find Chris. The siblings ambled around the reception hall, Tyler sipping on a new glass of champagne when Madison suddenly laughed._

_“What’s so funny?” Tyler quizzed disjointedly._

_“No offense, big brother,” Madison started carefully, “but this whole shindig seems a little… asinine. I mean, who has a one-year anniversary party?” Tyler sighed in relief._

_“That’s exactly what I said,” Tyler concurred, “the whole affair seems a little much.” He couldn’t help but cringe at his own wording._

_“Then why the hell are you doing it?” Madison asked seriously while snagging a pig-in-a-blanket from a nearby food tray._

_“You know what they say,” Tyler said quoting Zack, “Happy wife, happy life.” Madison snorted with her mouth full._

_“That’s total bull,” she said after her mouth was no longer full, “we both know that marriage is about compromise, not control.” Madison had married about six months after Tyler had but she somehow seemed more experienced and knowledgeable about it than he. Tyler supposed it had something to do with the fact that unlike him, she dove in headfirst to her marriage whereas Tyler only dipped his toe in cautiously while maintaining his relationship with Josh, who still hadn’t appeared._

_Later that night, Tyler continued to search for Josh amongst the crowds of party attendants, while his family ate an elaborately planned three-course meal. He’d finished two more glasses of champagne. His head was feeling a little swimmy and he found that he was comfortably buzzed. The fabric of his suit clung to his back despite the blasting air conditioning. Jenna kept glancing at him expectantly as if hoping for something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what, so he reached over and squeezed her hand, earning him a grateful smile._

_He was suddenly overwhelmed by the tinkling of silverware against glass. Jenna gave a bright grin and twined her fingers with his and pulled him to his feet. She handed him a fresh glass of champagne and took one for herself. Someone passed her a microphone._

_She cleared her throat and began, “I just want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I know this sort of thing is kind of unorthodox but when you love someone as much I love Tyler, you take any chance you can get to show the world just how much you care about them.” The rest of her toast passed in a similar fashion. She in multiple ways, she proclaimed her love for him and her dedication to being with him for the rest of her life. During her speech, Tyler began to feel more and more uncomfortable and culpable. At a certain point, her words blurred together as sweat started to form on his brow. At last, he dropped her hand and began to clap along with the crowd, pulling his carefully worded speech from the inner pocket of his jacket as his wife passed him the microphone. Zack had helped him with much of it. His brother had seemed surprised that the singer who could write lyrics that brought his fans to tears couldn’t manage to write a simple toast for his wife. Little did he know, Tyler was struggling more and more often with the secret held between him and Josh._

_His hands shook as he unfolded his speech. He had held a mic and spoken and performed in front of ten times more people than this, but he was inexplicably more nervous than he had ever been while on stage._

_“Thanks for coming-“ he was cut off by a crack of feedback, earning a laugh from the crowd._

_He moved the microphone a few inches further from his mouth and continued, “Ahem, thank you for coming. I know what you’re thinking. This guy writes songs for a living, so his speech had better knock us off our feet and I hate to disappoint you, but what I have to say is really pretty ordinary. I’m just a man who feels so eternally grateful to have a woman as beautiful as Jenna standing beside me. I know that I’m not always home and that when I’m home I get lost in my head a lot but when I finally wake up, I’m so glad that it’s her that I’m waking up to. The last year has been amazing. Yes, I hit gold with an album, but nothing compares to knowing that I’m lucky enough to be loved by you, Jenna.” Jenna’s eyes glistened with happy tears at his words as he looked up, but his eyes were drawn to a puff of bright red hair standing by the door._

_“I guess the gist of what I want to say is that the idea of reaching a golden anniversary with you, Jenna, means more to me than a gold record ever could. I love you. Here’s to another 49 years,” he finished at last and downed his glass of champagne, thunderous applause sounding around him. Jenna pulled him into a languid kiss but before then, he watched Josh turn and push his way out the door. After an acceptable time had passed, he pulled back and started for the door._

_“Gotta pee,” he called to her over his shoulder, by way of explanation._

_He slid through the crowd of well-wishers and made his way slowly to the door. He pushed his way into the back garden and was met by beautifully trimmed hedges creating little pathways through the grass. Other than a woman on her cell phone and a couple giggling over glasses of wine, the garden appeared empty. He wound his way down a hedged path for a few minutes until he found Josh curled against the tall greenery, telltale sniffs escaping from beneath his folded arms. Tyler quietly closed the distance between them and lay a hand on his shoulder. Josh jumped at his touch and brushed his hand off, his chocolate eyes brimmed with unshed tears. Tyler wordlessly sat beside him, shame twisting, like a snake, in his guts. They sat, for perhaps the first time in all their friendship, in uncomfortable silence._

_Just then, Josh pulled Tyler’s arm around him and buried his face in his shoulder, hot tears dampening his suit jacket. Tyler reflexively placed a kiss on his red hair, his fingers stroking his back._

_Josh shivered against him as he muttered, “I’m not sure what I expected.”_

_“I’m sorry you had to hear that stuff,” Tyler apologized genuinely, “this whole party was a really dumb idea.”_

_Josh chuckled bitterly against his neck, “who has a one-year anniversary party, anyway?”_

_“Apparently me,” Tyler stated before kissing Josh’s ear. Josh pulled up to look him in the eye._

_“Is it always going to be like this?” he asked of Tyler, a note of pleading in his voice. Tyler knew what he wanted but a peaceful conclusion eluded him._

_“I don’t know,” Tyler admitted earnestly. He was acutely aware, at that moment, of the way he felt for Josh. How very much he loved him. How willing he was to stand at the edge of oblivion for him. How much he was risking because he couldn’t keep himself from holding him and loving him with near everything he had._

_The agony of seeing him in pain because of him was torturous and with this in mind, he said the only thing that made sense, “I don’t think it’ll always be this way. I think someday it’ll be you and me throwing cheesy parties together. We’ll be toasting to our relationship.” Josh kissed him softly, then. There was no real fire to it, but Tyler, like kindling, stoked at the flames by pressing impossibly closer to the red-haired man._

_He stroked Josh’s freshly shaven face as his friend’s hands came to life pressing at Tyler’s chest beneath his suit jacket._

_“I love you, Tyler,” Josh uttered breathlessly between kisses, “so much.” Tyler’s heart swelled so much so, he thought it may rip from his chest. Josh had said he loved him in the past, but never ever with such fervor. He pulled away, holding Josh’s face between his hands gently. His lips were kiss-swollen and his brown eyes half-lidded but to Tyler’s he looked like a work of art, like something he was undeserving to be near, let alone touch._

_“I’m in love with you, Josh,” Tyler spoke, his pupils huge and his cheeks red. Josh dove at him so hard, Tyler landed on his back with a groan but before he could complain, Josh had pressed his lips, anew, to Tyler’s. His hands pulled at the white button-up under his suit, before his fingers agonizingly caressed the tender skin beneath. Before Tyler’s could protest or give in, Josh’s dexterous fingers had unbuckled his belt and began to slide beneath the waistband of his pants._

_“AHEM,” said a familiar male voice. Tyler didn’t think he or Josh had ever jumped quite so high as the pulled apart as fast as they could. They turned to face the person who had caught them, disheveled and red in the face. Zack stared back at them, his eyes wide in shock._

_He looked between them, as though he couldn’t quite believe his eyes._

_He cleared his throat before leveling his gaze at Josh, “you’d probably better go, man.” Josh nodded and before Tyler could tell him not to go, he was jogging away._

_“You should probably… um, resituate yourself, bro,” Zack told him, scratching his neck and staring awkwardly at the grass._

_“Huh?” Tyler started before noticing he had a painfully obvious erection. Tyler turned his back on his brother and adjusted himself before tucking in his shirt and re-doing his belt. He turned to face his brother, mortified and scared of what was to come._

_Zack took a step forward and dusted the dried grass from Tyler’s shoulders, “well, that’s better, I guess. Come on.”_

_As they wound their way back through the hedges, they were locked in a loaded silence._

_“So, is this a new thing or…” Zack trailed off._

_“Not exactly,” Tyler admitted with very little contrition, “Six months or so.”_

_“Is it just a fling?” Zack asked with some interest._

_“No,” Tyler replied, at once, “I… I love him, man.” Zack nodded solemnly. They were nearing the doors to the reception hall._

_“I need to know,” Tyler said with some anxiety, “are you going to tell everyone?”_

_“No,” Zack replied coming to a halt, “I won’t pretend to approve of you stringing Jenna along or, really, stringing Josh along either but…” Zack paused, thinking._

_“I understand what it is to love someone in a way that’s so powerful that you’d risk anything, do anything to be with them,” Zack finished pulling his brother toward the door, “Hurry up and do what you’re going to do before anyone gets any more hurt than they already will be. And just… be more careful, from now on.” And they were._

-

            Tyler tossed and turned restlessly in the passenger seat of his sister’s van. Zack snored with a peacefulness that struck Tyler as both annoying and disturbing considering the circumstances. It had been more than eight-hour drive from St. Louis to the outskirts of Oklahoma City but it'd taken them two days to make the trip and the things they had seen had made Tyler more and more fearful, the further west they went. As they made their way down Interstate 44, they’d seen just how hard mother nature had hit the world for all of their negligence. Outside of St. Louis the Mark Twain National Forest was ablaze. The flames burned so hotly and bright that even as they drove past, Tyler feared that the tires would melt against the pavement. They’d had to ride with the windows down because the cloying smoke had forced its way in through the ventilation system, choking them out and bringing tears to their eyes. Even twenty miles later, he could still see the blaze licking the sky in the distance.

            As they made their way west, the highways became more damaged and congested with abandoned cars. In Lebanon, an enormous crevasse divided the four-lane highway. Cars stuck from the chasm like broken, metal teeth. There, the highway was so gridlocked that the brothers were forced to drive off the shoulder for a long while until the traffic cleared. Many of the cars were simply empty but sometimes when he was stupid enough to look, Tyler saw bodies already beginning to decay in the July heat. Most looked as though they were unlucky enough to have been driving full speed when the quakes hit but others filled Tyler with fear. Some looked as though they had died from gunshot wounds. Tyler prayed that they’d not encounter the likes of the people who had killed these innocent civilians.

            The riots and looting continued as they drove through larger cities and Zach became steadily more anxious the further on they went. Finally, in Springfield, he’d forced Tyler to help him break in to a sporting goods store. It had been more or less picked over, but Zack had been clever enough to find an abandoned shopping cart under some rubble, most likely left behind in the midst of the quakes. Zack pocketed a small handgun and two boxes of rounds. He also took a large hunting knife and after much protest, convinced Tyler to take one as well. He had vowed not to use it to kill another living being unless it was life or death.

            All the while, Tyler had begun to feel increasingly paranoid after the events in St. Louis. Despite knowing how illogical it was, he had begun to fear someone was following them. He couldn’t get the idea out of his head. He and Zack had barely spoken since St. Louis except for grunts of annoyance and to switch shifts for driving. They were seemingly caught in a stalemate of mutual disappointment.

            They’d arrived at the outskirts of Oklahoma City just after dark and as was becoming more and more common, the highway was so packed with destroyed and abandoned cars, there was no hope of making it safely into the city, at least until morning. So, they’d parked along the shoulder, trying to blend into the discarded vehicles and resolved to try to sleep until sunrise.

            Tyler was just beginning to doze despite Zack’s snoring when he heard a piercing shriek from outside the car. Zack snorted awake and instantly pulled the gun from an ankle holster as the scream tapered off.

“Put that away,” Tyler hissed, “there’s a woman out there.” Zack slid the gun back into place and reached instead for his hunting knife.

“What are you thinking?” Tyler demanded as his brother quietly opened the driver door.

“It could be a trap,” Zack answered before closing the door behind him. Tyler rolled his eyes and exited the car, tiptoeing behind Zack.

            After a moment, they began to see the glow of a fire and hear two male voices. They ducked behind a car just beyond the origin of the light.

“You stupid, little bitch, you’re lucky I don’t cut your tongue out,” growled voice one. Tyler risked a peek over the hood and saw a tall, burly man in tattered clothes, his knee pressed into the back of a small figure on the ground.

Another figure stepped out of the shoulders, even taller and burlier than the first and said, “now, Jim, we both know she’s worth more to us with a tongue.” Zack seethed beside him.

“Get the fuck off of me,” a feminine voice squeaked from below Jim.

“Try to run again and I’ll kill you, you little, ginger bitch,” Jim told the girl ripping her to her feet.

            Her brilliant red-orange hair was the first thing that caught Tyler’s eye. Her green eyes gleamed with defiance as the man held her arms behind her back. A grin rose suddenly on her heavily freckled face as she reared back and kicked Jim in the kneecap. Before she could run, though, the other had ripped her back by her curly hair. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen. She gave a cry of anguish and before Tyler could think about stopping him, Zack was on the other side of the car, his gun pointed right at Jim who was still clutching his knee.

“Let her go, right now, or I shoot your buddies brains all over the pavement,” Zack roared glaring at the larger man.

“Now, hold on, buddy,” Jim started with a chortle, “we’re all friends here. If you really want a crack at her, it can be arranged for the right price.” Zack growled out loud and shot a round into the sky before pointing the gun below Jim’s shredded belt. Tyler’s felt ashamed as he huddled behind the car, for letting his younger brother risk his life, yet again.

            “I said to let her go!” Zack shouted furiously. The bigger man let go of her hair and she took this as a cue to run. Zack risked a glance over his shoulder at Tyler.

“Ty, go get her,” Zack yelled back to him as the men exchanged a glance. Tyler for the moment was frozen in fear, the sight of the dead Norton brother flashing before his eyes.

“He’s crazy as all hell,” Jim exclaimed, “he’s talking to his self!” While Zack’s attention was on him, the larger man pulled a knife from his pocket and took a step towards him. Zack smirked and lowered his gun.

“You wanna play that game, huh?” Zack asked tauntingly, putting the safety on the handgun. He returned it to his ankle holster and popped up just as quickly with his hunting knife.

“Tyler! Go!” Zack screamed at him, “she’s not safe here!” Finally, Tyler forced himself to his feet. He jumped over the hood of the car startling the burly men, giving Zack the opportunity to throw a punch at Jim, who just managed to dodge it. Tyler stopped and stared at his brother.

            “I’ll be fine!” Zack yelled, “go!” With that, Tyler ran in the direction the girl took off in. He barely managed to avoid rocks and debris underfoot as he ran in the dark, only hoping he could somehow catch up with the girl before she disappeared completely. He had to admit that running again was invigorating despite the reasoning. He thanked his high school basketball coach for all the drills he made them run, as a healthy burn started in his lungs.

            He stopped short at the sight on a huge dilapidated warehouse with a partially caved in roof. He bent to catch his breath and rolled his eyes. His instincts told him this is likely where the girl would be hiding and with a sigh, he made his way toward the warehouse. He noticed a gigantic tear in the metal at the side of the building and decided to take his chances over looking for a traditional entrance. He dug in his travel pack and found his flashlight (another acquisition of Zack’s) and began to toe his way through the desolate building. The dim beam bounced around the vast warehouse, so far turning up nothing but rubble and crumpled boxes.

            Just then, he heard a thunderous noise and a shrill cry. He reflexively ran toward the noise, his flashlight beam bouncing in the dark room. He came upon the girl, trying desperately to pull her leg from beneath a fallen beam. She cowered away as Tyler approached.

“Stay the fuck away,” she yelled venomously. Tyler raised his hands in surrender for a moment.

“I’m only here to help,” he told her, edging back, “I have no desire to hurt you.”

“That’s what you all say!” the girl screamed shrilly, “none of you are anything but killers and rapists.”

            “Not all of us,” Tyler said with annoyance, “some of us are just trying to save our friends.”

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but asked, “who’s your friend?”

“His name’s Josh,” Tyler explained, “he was in California when the quakes started.” The girl’s eyes widened.

“You and that crazy guy are going all the way to California to save some dude?” she asked incredulously, still trying to pull her leg from beneath the wreckage.

            Tyler couldn’t help but laugh.

“That crazy guy is my brother, Zack,” he took a step forward, stopping when she winced.

“And Josh isn’t just some dude,” Tyler explained carefully, “he’s my… lover?” The girl’s eyes widened, again, this time in realization.

“You’re gay?” she inquired smiling despite herself.

“I-it’s more complicated than that,” Tyler said with a blush, “I technically have a wife so…”

“So, what does that make you, then?” she asked with a laugh.

            “I’ll, uh, get back to you on that one,” Tyler replied ponderously, “now can we get this thing off your leg, or do we have to discuss my entire sexual history before you trust me?”

“I’ve got time if you do,” she said a grimace, trying yet again to pull her leg free. Tyler sighed and walked toward the beam trapping her. She pulled back slightly but made no move to attack him or anything, so he took this as a good sign.

“Please, don’t run,” Tyler implored of her, bending to grab the heavy steel.

“No promises,” she retorted with a shrug. He rolled his eyes and began to lift. It was heavier than he expected but not impossible. He reminded himself to lift not with his back but with his legs as sweat beaded on his forehead.

“When I tell you to, pull your leg out as fast as possible,” Tyler told her, straining, “1. 2. 3. Pull!” She screamed and pulled her leg free and he dropped the beam with a thump. He was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn’t running but when he looked over she was clutching her bleeding shin, tears trickling down her freckled cheeks.

            “Hey,” Tyler said kneeling down gently beside her, “are you alright?”

She smiled up at him, her olive eyes sparkling with tears, “all good.”

Tyler shook his head and gestured toward her leg, “can I look at it?” She appeared to think about it a moment before nodding reluctantly. She unfolded her knee and lay her leg down flat with a quiet hiss. The wound didn’t look life-threatening or very deep, but he feared it might get infected if left to its own devices.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he instructed standing up, “I’m gonna see if I can’t find something to bandage this with.” He began to pick his way through the wreckage, looking through cardboard boxes.

            He found a stack of taped up boxes toward a wall in the back. They were dusty but otherwise intact. He pulled his hunting knife from his pocket and sliced open the top of the nearest box.

“Jackpot!” Tyler yelled excitedly. Inside the box were dozens of sealed first aid kits. He extracted one and practically skipped back to the girl.

“Why are you so happy?” she asked with a puzzled expression.

“I just found a crapload of these,” Tyler said presenting the first aid kit. The girl smirked at him as he opened the lid and pulled out disinfecting wipes and gauze. He opened the wipes and started to clean the wound on her shin.

            “That hurts like a son of a bitch,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Eh, it’s not that bad,” Tyler told her throwing the bloody wipe over his shoulder. There was a pretty bad scrape down her shin but otherwise, Tyler doubted it would even scar. He wrapped it loosely in gauze, careful not cut off her circulation and sealed it with a clip. He hopped to his feet with the first aid kit under his arm and reached a hand out to the girl to assist her. She looked reluctantly at it and pushed herself to her feet on her own, with a grimace. Tyler shrugged and supposed that they’d have to take baby steps to earn her trust.

“So… I’m Tyler. What’s your name?” he asked dusting off his knees.

“Um… It’s Evie,” she replied quietly.

“Well, think you’re up for a little lifting, Evie?” Tyler asked smiling brightly.

            After a few minutes of carrying the box between them, they caught sight of the fire in the distance and the first touches of anxiety hit Tyler, anew. He prayed that his brother had made it out of the fight safely but if what he’d seen two nights ago was anything to go by, he was likely just fine. As they reached the fire between some cars, he saw Zack sitting precariously on the edge of the hood of the car they’d been hiding behind. The burly men lay face down and Tyler couldn’t tell if they were breathing.

“Are they-?” Tyler began to ask before Zack cut him off.

“Just knocked out,” Zack grumbled, “what’s in the box?” Tyler moved to carry the box towards him, but Evie had frozen beside him.

“Don’t worry,” Tyler told her in a reassuring tone, “Zack’s one of the good guys.” Slowly, she helped Tyler bring the box to his brother, limping slightly with her left leg.

            “This is Evie,” Tyler explained after they’d set the box at his feet.

“Nice to meet ya, Evie,” Zack said thrusting a hand out for her to shake. She cowered away, and Tyler shook his head at his brother.

“Evie, this is my idiot brother, Zack,” Tyler said with a chuckle. Zack frowned, and Evie smiled and nodded. Tyler proceeded to show Zack the contents of the box and even Zack had to admit it was an incredibly useful find. Together, he and Zack loaded it in the back, Evie following quietly behind them.

“So, I… don’t really have anywhere to go,” Evie blurted suddenly as they finished loading the supplies into the van.

            “Oh,” the brothers said simultaneously.

“I mean, you can come with us,” Tyler stated with a shrug. Zack gave him a forbidding look.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get into the van get some rest,” Tyler told her, forcing a smile, “I think there’s a baby blanket back there somewhere.” She nodded hesitantly, opened the back door, crawled in and closed it behind her.

“You’ve got to stop doing this!” Zack exclaimed immediately.

“Doing what?” Tyler demanded, “you mean the right thing?”

“You’ve frozen up twice in three days and you think it’s a good idea to bring on more people to protect?” Zack quizzed, glowering.

            “Oh, because unlike you, I’m not willing to kill people at the flip of a coin,” Tyler spat back at him. Zack reacted as though Tyler had hit him.

“D-do you think that was easy?” Zack asked softly, after a moment.

“It sure seemed like you had an easy time of it,” Tyler retorted, folding his arms in front of him.

“Tyler, you’d be dead if I hadn’t,” Zack cried, scrubbing a hand down his face, “you were just going to let him do it. I didn’t want to kill him.” Tyler found he had no excuse and that despite himself, he understood his brother’s reasoning.

“I-I still don’t want to kill people,” he replied stubbornly.

“Neither do I and I don’t want you to have to, man,” Zack said with a sigh, “but this is the world we live in now. At the very least, don’t let people kill you! If we die, what’s going to become of Josh?”

            Tyler blanched at his question and nodded in agreement.

“You’re right,” Tyler muttered staring down at his dirty sneakers. Zack laughed and pulled Tyler into a tight hug.

“Let’s get back in the van and lock the doors before those asswipes wake up,” Zack instructed once he let go. Tyler nodded, and they climbed back inside the vehicle. Tyler was both surprised and relieved to find that Evie had already fallen asleep in the back seat, a small blanket covering her upper body.

            Within minutes, Zack was snoring again, and he was, yet again, tossing and turning. He spent endless hours worrying about Josh and if he was okay and whether he was safe and if he had eaten today, etc. He thought of what Zack said about not letting himself die and his stomach rolled with the fear of leaving this world without ever holding Josh in his arms, again. His pulse was beginning to race, and he desperately shook his head, trying to push away the thoughts and thought instead of that night, one year ago, where despite the awful circumstances, he had held Josh close to him and felt his heart against him and smelled his honeysuckle shampoo. The thought wasn’t quite peaceful but with Josh in mind, Tyler’s eyes finally closed and his drifted into fitful sleep.


	4. Elk City Market

-

_It was a week before they left for the first leg of the tour and Josh had just flown in from L.A. And needless to say, Tyler had missed him like mad over the last few months. It took everything he had not to drive to the airport and meet him, but he knew with reasonable certainty, that after not seeing him in so long, it would be all over the net if he were to inevitably pull him into a kiss in the middle of the crowded airport. So, he waited a torturous three days while Josh reunited with his family. As was the norm for the past few months, they exchanged text messages and whispered phone calls, with Tyler looking over his shoulder guiltily. Finally, when it seemed normal to do so, Tyler told Jenna that he was meeting Josh for lunch and a movie._

_What he didn’t explain was that he had picked Josh up from his parent’s and they’d taken a two-hour car ride to Pickerington Ponds Metro Park. Tyler found himself feverish at the sensation of Josh’s palm resting on his thigh throughout the long ride. They didn’t speak as they drove. They had too much to say. Instead, they listened, quietly, to the radio, Tyler smiling softly to himself as Josh’s fingers drummed at his pants leg._

_When they finally arrived, Tyler found himself full of nervous energy and he couldn’t believe he’d contained it so far. The skies were bright and clear as they exited the vehicle. Josh stretched, revealing a bit of his hips and stomach and already Tyler was blushing. They made their way towards the hiking trail, the sun shining down, warming them and loosening their limbs after the long, air-conditioned car ride._

_As they passed into the tree line, he took Josh’s calloused hand in his and sighed deeply in relief. Josh’s brown eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled affectionately at him. The occasional passerby looked strangely at them and it made Tyler a little nervous but still, he couldn’t bring himself to loosen his fingers from Josh’s. Tyler just smiled at the hikers and prayed none of the people recognized them._

_When at last they arrived at the largest pond, Tyler was absolutely aching to kiss Josh. The surrounding area was blissfully unoccupied other than a woman and her dog, far on the other side of the pond, so small in the distance they could have been insects. Josh looked around and plopped down on the grass. Tyler made to join him but before he could, Josh had, to his embarrassment, pulled him into his lap._

_“Josh, what- “ Tyler began before Josh delicately pressed his lips to Tyler’s. Tyler wrapped his arms around the blue haired man and held him as desperately as he felt. Josh cradled his jaw in his hands as he kissed him breathlessly. When, finally, he pulled away, he simply held Tyler against him, his stubbled cheek against Tyler’s neck. His hot breath sent shivers down Tyler’s back and he was a little embarrassed at the heat that rose in his stomach._

_“I’ve wanted to do that for hours,” Josh confessed with a chuckle, “aw, who am I kidding? I’ve wanted to do it for weeks. Months, even.”_

_Tyler pulled back to look into his brown eyes, the sun revealing minute specks of green in his irises, “I’ve missed you. Like, so much.”_

_Josh laughed a little, “I know. You’ve only told me every single day since I left. I’ve missed you, too.”_

_Tyler took this opportunity to kiss his smiling mouth before frowning and telling him, “I still don’t understand.”_

_“Understand what?” Josh inquired reaching up to stroke the prickles of Tyler’s closely shaved head._

_“Why?” Tyler started, slipping slowly from Josh’s lap to sit across from him, “Why did you have to go?”_

_A look of melancholy overtook the blue-haired man’s face, “It was easier in some ways…”_

_“It was easier to be away from me?” Tyler asked, annoyed with the whining tone in his own voice._

_Josh reached over and took the brunette’s hand, stroking his wrist gently with a calloused thumb, “Of course not… but it made it easier to deal with the fact that I can’t be with you every day. To know that… I wasn’t the one you were waking up beside every morning.”_

_There was the guilt again, clawing viciously at Tyler’s throat. The further time went on, he became more solidified in the idea that it was going to be Josh and him, in the end. He believed this whole-heartedly, but he kept finding reasons to put things off. It never felt like the right time and a big part of him loved Jenna yet, for every part inside him that grew to love Jenna, he found that the other part of him, that loved Josh, grew two-fold. The guilt and indecision made him sick some nights. He didn’t sleep much and the songs he wrote were carefully coded love letters to Josh or worse yet, encrypted confessions of his guilt. He knew his time to decide was running out. And he knew that it was really no decision at all. In the end, he knew he’d be breaking the heart of the woman he loved to be with the man he was in love with. It was a sense of obligation that had held him this long._

_He had never told Josh any of these thoughts, in detail, though he suspected that on some level Josh understood. He was afraid to put it into words. Afraid that just putting his thoughts into the world would be enough to turn his life upside down._

_“At least we have these next six months together,” he said finally, lifting Josh’s hand to kiss the knuckle of each of his fingers._

_Josh beamed at him, anew and pulled him closer, “I can’t wait to spend six months in a smelly tour bus with you.”_

_Tyler kissed the corner of his mouth and laughed, “better a smelly tour bus than a smelly van.”_

_Josh dominated his space then, moving forward and gently pushing Tyler back onto his elbows. He hovered above him, a mischievous glint in his eye._

_Tyler swallowed audibly as Josh kissed his neck._

_“Maybe we’ll finally have the privacy to,” Josh purred, trailing kisses from Tyler’s ear to the collar of his T-shirt, “you know…” Tyler knew exactly what he meant. It’d been nearly a year since this affair began and they’d yet to actually have sex. They had kissed a lot and held each other and whispered their dark desires to one another but things had never moved beyond heated touches, which left the two panting, red-faced and desperately wanting more. There were things holding Tyler back, though. The first was guilt. He knew that what he’d done with Josh up to this point definitely qualified as cheating but to be that intimate would be the ultimate step into infidelity. The second thing was really an extension of the first. He knew that when he and Josh finally crossed that line, when he and Josh finally made love, that he would never be able to go to his life as he knew it, he’d have to end things with Jenna. The third thing was a simple lack of experience. He knew in theory how it all worked, and he had even done a little… research but there were still things he wasn’t sure about. He was afraid it would hurt or that he’d embarrass himself in some way. He felt like a virgin again._

_He had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind so many times in these past months and there were so many times that he had almost given into temptation, but these things always stopped him from taking it further. It didn’t help that they rarely had the time or the place to even consider taking that step, thus Josh’s comment about finally having privacy. He couldn’t deny that it was a tantalizing thought, just the two of them alone on a tour bus for six months. He imagined the two of them, alternating between playing the music that they’d worked so hard to create and making love for hours until they were completely exhausted. It was a pleasant thought._

_And the thought was ever-present in his mind as Josh’s teeth scraped his throat, eliciting a low moan from the brown-haired man. Josh chuckled against his skin and pressed his lips to his as Tyler lowered himself to lay against the ground. Tyler’s hands found their way to Josh’s back and slid beneath his thin T-shirt, caressing the firm contours of his skin. The blue haired man began to drag agonizingly slow kisses from Tyler’s chin to his collar. With visible frustration at the clothes between them, Josh pulled the brunette’s shirt up to his chin and continued his way down, stopping to suck gently at his collar bones, careful not to leave marks. Tyler squirmed beneath him as Josh moved down his tattooed chest, his tongue flicking his right nipple. To both Tyler’s pleasure and torture, Josh gave up on kissing and began to trail his tongue down Tyler’s flat stomach._

_He gasped as Josh sank his teeth softly into his hip. His fingers dug into the loamy dirt beneath him as Josh’s tongue laved over the sensitive skin and his fingers fiddled with the button on Tyler’s pants. Within seconds, Tyler’s pants were mid-thigh and his erection was exposed._

_Tyler flushed with arousal and mortification and he began to protest, “Josh, we’re out-“ But before he could finish his sentence, Josh took him, slowly, into his mouth. Tyler could barely breathe as Josh’s tongue stroked at the underside of his shaft. Moans unwittingly ripped from his chest as his friend took him in deeper. The warm wetness of Josh’s lips threatened to send him over the edge in a humiliatingly quick fashion. This was new. They’d touched each other plenty of times but it’d never been quite like this._

_Tyler made the mistake of looking down and what he saw floored him. Josh stared back  at him, his chocolate eyes filled with hunger as his pink tongue flicked at the tip of his erection. Tyler grew more red-faced than he thought possible and dropped his head back to the ground with a whimper._

_“Josh. Josh. Josh,” became Tyler’s mantra as Josh established a rhythm, simultaneously stroking the base of his shaft while applying unbearably pleasurable suction. His breath was heaving even more quickly and the warmth in his belly was spreading. All the while Josh continued to lick at the sensitive underside and he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer._

_Tyler became faintly aware of the ringing sound of a phone as his finger gently gripped Josh’s blue curls. It took all of his focus to reach past Josh, who never faltered, and pulled the phone from his pocket and blanched. The screen read: **Jenna**._

_Josh paused momentarily as Tyler stared at the display, “who is it?”_

_Tyler whimpered at the loss of the warmth of Josh’s mouth and swiped to decline the call and replied, “No one important. Please don’t stop.”_

_Josh’s resumed sucking him with renewed vigor and Tyler dropped the phone to twine his finger back into his friend’s hair. It wasn’t long before the pressure was building to a breaking point and Tyler couldn’t take it any longer._

_“Josh! I’m going to… cum. Oh my God, Josh,” Tyler murmured, trying gently to push Josh back. Josh brushed his hands away and increased his pace, all the while his hand moving in matching rhythm. Tyler cried out as he came, and Josh closed his lips around his tip and licked it away, sending Tyler into sensual convulsions until, at last, he was spent. Afterward, Josh helped him pull his pants up and lay on top of him as the brunette’s heart pounded in his chest._

_“Um, how was that?” Josh asked after a moment, his eyes crinkling with a smile._

_“You-You’re really good at that,” Tyler said between breaths. Josh laughed and pulled Tyler into a sitting position._

_“How about we go catch a movie, for real?” Josh asked gazing lovingly at Tyler._

_Tyler’s eyes dropped to the erection tenting the front of Josh’s pants and he reached for him, “want me to?”_

_Josh chuckled and took Tyler’s hand, “not necessary.”_

_“But you-“ Tyler started._

_Josh kissed him and pulled him to his feet, “It sounds funny, but I did it more for me than you. Now, I just want to be with you.” With that, Josh adjusted himself and they started back towards the trail, hand in hand, Tyler’s phone left ignored in his pocket._

-

            The morning had been chillingly uneventful. At dawn, they’d finally made their way off the shoulder of the highway and worked their way toward the city, all the while Evie slept in the backseat. Oklahoma City was eerily quiet and despite the telltale destruction from the quake, the city was devoid of signs of looting and riots that they’d seen in every major city, so far. People milled around in ragged clothes, but they didn’t seem as purposeless as Tyler expected.

            There were cleanup crews removing debris from the streets and pushing cars on to the shoulder, so they didn’t obstruct the road. There was a group of children of various ages, sitting in an empty lot, a woman standing before them, holding some kind of lesson. Strangest of all they saw people carrying armfuls of food, some pushing wheelbarrows to what appeared to be an enormous make-shift shack that seemed to serve as a community pantry, with armed guards standing outside ensuring people only took their fair share.

            It was all somewhat alarming, but it was the first bit of order Tyler had seen since the quake and for the first time, Tyler felt some semblance of hope. The streets were cracked, and some buildings toppled but the brothers made in through the city in a little more than an hour and back on to the highway. They spent most of their time driving on the shoulder and Tyler kept his eyes peeled for fissures as Zack stared through the windshield. The drove for nearly two hours unobstructed before they came to a line of orange barrels in the middle of the road.

“Um, what do we do now?” Zack asked, looking helpless for the first time since they left home.

“I-I don’t know,” Tyler confessed. This was the only way he knew to go.

            He was just about to tell Zack he thought they should get out and investigate when men in military garb, carrying assault rifles jumped over the barrels and pointed their guns right at them.

“Step out of the car with your hands above your head!” one of the men exclaimed as they closed in on the van in careful formation.

“What do we do?” Zack cried, panic rising in his eyes.

“Do it,” Tyler told him and pushed out of the passenger seat. The brothers got out of the car with their hands held in surrender as the soldiers accosted them.

            “There’s a girl with us!” Tyler shouted as one of the men grabbed him by the collar of his filthy T-shirt, “she’s asleep in the backseat!”

“Get her out here, now!” the man spat back pushing Tyler into the side of the van. Tyler jumped into the passenger seat and turned to shake Evie. She awoke with a start, her hands balled into fists as though ready for a fight. She froze when she saw Tyler’s expression.

“I need you to stay calm and get out of the car with me,” he told her simply, “I don’t know what’s happening.”

Wordlessly, she slid open the back door and stood beside him. The men corralled them past the barrels and toward a small building. Tyler groaned as he looked over his shoulder and saw them getting in the van and driving off to somewhere they couldn’t see.

            Once inside the building, which really was little more than a room, they were sat at a metal table which reminded Tyler vaguely of an interrogation room. All but one of the men left, leaving them to their own devices. One soldier remained outside the door guarding them, his rifle held to his shoulder.

“What is this place?” Evie asked, her green eyes huge with fear, “what did you guys do?”

“We didn’t do anything,” Zack retorted with a roll of his eyes. Tyler shot him a disapproving glance.

“I don’t know where we are,” Tyler explained, “somewhere outside of Oklahoma City.”

            Just then, a middle-aged man with a thick mustache entered the building. He, too, was dressed in military garb but his jacket was adorned with various medals. His closely cut hair was grey and patchy.

“Sorry about the welcome committee, fellas,” the man said with a thick accent.

He pulled up a chair and sat across from the trio, “you can’t be too careful these days, what with the looting and rioting going on in some parts.”

“Did we do something wrong?” Zack asked respectfully.

“Why no, my boy,” the man said with a perfect smile, “simply precaution. Might I ask your business here?”

“We’re just passing through on our way west,” Tyler answered hesitantly.

            “That’s perfectly acceptable,” the man told them genially, “you’ll have to pass through our camp in Elk City, though.”

“Elk City?” Zack asked cautiously.

“It’s a trading camp of sorts,” the man explained, “probably one of the safest places in the U.S. right now.”

“So, we can go?” Tyler inquired hopefully.

“Of course,” the man said gleefully, Tyler and Zack moved to stand, “but there are a few stipulations involved with passing through the city.” The brothers sat back down.

            “What kind of stipulations?” Zack asked, anger rising in his voice. For the second time that day, Tyler gave him a forbidding look.

“Nothing too unreasonable, I assure you,” the man answered, lacing his fingers behind his head, “we have an economy to support and as I’m sure you’re well aware, money’s no good anymore. So, in order to pass through, you must make a trade. The trades are always mutually beneficial, of course.”

“What if you have nothing to trade?” Evie asked timidly.

“I’m glad you asked, young lady,” the man chuckled, “if not, it’s a mandatory three weeks of labor… or you can turn around and hope you’re well enough acquainted with the road to find a detour.”

Tyler was filled with despair before he remembered the first aid kits in their van.

“The other rule is sort of common sense,” the man commented, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a cigar, “no weapons. So, everyone who enters is subject to a search.”

He lit the cigar and blew a puff of smoke towards Tyler, who coughed at the stench, “So, do you consent?”

“It sounds like we don’t have much of a choice,” Zack said sarcastically, “so, I guess.”

“Good answer,” the man stated, the cigar clutched between his teeth, “my name’s Davis. I’m the director of affairs here. What are you called?”

“I’m Tyler Joseph. This is my brother, Zack and this is Evie,” Tyler explained with a sigh.

            “Tyler Joseph, eh?” Davis said quizzically, “why does that sound familiar?”

“I, uh, was in a band, sir,” Tyler explained staring down at his distorted reflection in the surface of the metal table.

“Ah, that’s right! My granddaughter was obsessed with ya’ll,” Davis exclaimed slapping the table, “what we’re ya’ll called? Twenty-two planes, or something.”

“Twenty One Pilots,” Evie said suddenly, her eyes the size of saucers.

“That doesn’t sound right,” Davis said taking a puff from his cigar, “anywho, your van is parked at the other end of the city. My boys took the liberty of inventorying its contents.” Now, Tyler was becoming angry. He guessed that in the new America, there was no such thing as privacy or a right to your own possessions.

“You’re welcome to trade for whatever you like,” Davis told them, “your supplies are boxed up outside and all of our vendors supply receipts so there’ll be no trouble on that front.”

            “Sounds reasonable,” Zack said through gritted teeth.

“I’m glad you agree,” Davis said, dropping his cigar on the ground and stomping it out on the concrete floor, “I suppose that concludes our business.”

The trio stood finally and started for the door, “of course, there’s still the search to take care of.” Zack groaned audibly. So, the three of them were subjected to thoroughly uncomfortable pat downs and their weapons were confiscated.

“These will be returned upon your exiting the city,” the soldier told them. They were forced to fill out information forms and a contract stipulating that they wouldn’t try to leave until they’d made a trade or completed three weeks of labor.

            With that, they made the mile trek into the city, Zack pushing a wheelbarrow holding their box of supplies and Evie limping steadily behind the brothers.

As the buildings rose in the distance, Evie grabbed Tyler by the wrist, “why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

Tyler gently shook her off, “it didn’t seem that important with the apocalypse happening, you know?”

“You didn’t think it was important that you’re a billionaire rock star?” Evie demanded with a huff.

Tyler stopped and glared at her, “nothing is more important the finding Josh. Not the band. Not the money. Nothing.”

“Alright,” Evie said with a wince, “jeez.”

            At last, they reached the enormous tent that made up the marketplace. Even more armed guards stood at the gates.

“Tyler Joseph?” one of the guards asked as they reached the threshold. Tyler groaned internally, thinking he’d been recognized and nodded.

“Davis sent word ahead,” the guard told him and stepped aside, “go on in.”

            Tyler was shocked as he took in the inside of the market. He’d been all over the world but he’d never seen anything like the trading camp. It was as luxurious as it was post-apocalyptic. The bustling market was filled as far as the eye could see with vendors or men and women doing various services, most likely to earn passage from the city. Each of the vendor’s wares was more insane than the next and Tyler was reminded of those little installations in the middle of malls that would try to sell you hats worth ten dollars for four times that price. Some of the booths boasted gold jewelry and designer clothes despite the world being in ruins.

            One booth, in particular, caught Tyler’s eye. At a line of three curtained off cubicles, a man was trading for five-minute showers. Tyler hadn’t bathed in nearly four days and he knew he was beginning to smell. They traded three of the twenty medkits they had and took turns standing guard around the wheelbarrow while they each took their five minutes. The water was cold, but it was clean, and Tyler felt human for the first time in days as the freezing droplets pelted down upon him. When he came out, he found that Zack had traded for new clothes for the three of them. They were ill-fitting and itchy, but Tyler felt better than he had since they left. Evie, who was dirty and ragged when they found her, was pretty as a picture, her red hair radiant and her pale skin glowing.

            They’d fulfilled their agreement to in some way bolster Elk City’s economy and accumulated a stack of hand-written receipts but still, they perused. Zack traded two med kits for an even larger knife, which a guard took to have stored with their other weapons and another three were traded for ten cans of vegetables. Tyler thought they’d seen everything worth seeing when he noticed a sign that read **NATIONAL NEWS**. He checked the contents of their wheelbarrow and found that they still had ten first aid kits, several bottles of water, various bags and cans of food (mostly courtesy of Lou) and one and a half cans of gasoline, which Tyler had no intention of trading.

“Hey, man,” Tyler greeted the man sitting at a booth with what Tyler thought was an emergency radio before him, “that thing works?”

“Yup, there’s still news trickling in from across the country,” the man told him, pushing his cracked glasses up the bridge of his nose, “what’s left of it, of course. For the right price, I can let you know what’s going on.”

“Um, we have medkits,” Tyler told him, “we need to know what’s happening in the east.”

The man laughed, “I don’t need medical supplies. My wife’s the doctor here.”

            “We have food and water,” Zack added impatiently.

“News is a hot commodity these days,” the man snarled, “you boys are going to have to do better than that.”

He leaned forward to look at the contents of their wheelbarrow, “how about that gasoline?”

“That’s not up for trade,” Zack replied at once.

“Well, then, I guess you’ll never know,” the man told them matter-of-factly, turning his attention back to the dials of his radio.

            “What about mom and dad?” Tyler hissed at him, “Tatum? Pepper? Jenna? Jay and Madison?” Zack frowned.

“We can give you a half can,” Zack told the man briskly.

“Make it a whole can and I’ll tell you anything from anywhere you want to know about,” the man replied, his fingers laced beneath his chin.

“You rip off artist! That only leaves us with-“ Zack began to shout.

“We’ll manage somehow,” Tyler interrupted his brother, “you have a deal.”

            Zack gave Tyler a scathing look and then handed over the full gas can, “we need to know what’s happening in the east.” The man stored the can under his booth and pulled a set of headphones over his ears. He was quiet for a moment as he twisted the dials and then his face dropped. Finally, after a few minutes he pulled the headphones off and lifted his glasses to scrub a hand down his face.

“I, uh, have bad news, boys,” the man told him, tears brimming in his eyes.

“What?” Tyler asked fearfully.

“It appears that there was a massive quake off the coast of London,” the man said softly, “it triggered a tsunami that barraged the east coast. There hasn’t been any communication since the waves made landfall.”

            Tyler’s stomach dropped, and he felt entirely helpless. He turned and looked to his brother, who’s eyes were filling with tears.

“It can’t be,” Zack cried, “Tatum and Pepper… Mom and dad.”

“Ohio is… gone?” Tyler asked no one in particular, his voice breaking.

“Ohio?” the man asked then, “Ohio is fine, boys.” The brothers stared at him in disbelief while Evie stood silently behind them.

“But you said-“ Zack started with a whimper.

            “Everything east of Pennsylvania is reportedly gone,” the man told them, a tear falling down his cheek, “New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine. All gone.”

“What about D.C.? Wha-What about the government?” Tyler asked, feeling like his heart was in his stomach.

“It looks like this is the last bit of government left in the country,” the man confessed helplessly. Tyler felt sick and Zack was starting to pull him away.

“Wait,” Tyler said, pulling his arm free, “there’s something else I need to know.”

“What is it?” the man inquired, wiping away the tears in his eyes.

“California… L.A. What have you heard?” Tyler demanded weakly.

            “I’m sorry, son,” the man told him hesitantly, “there’s been no communication with California since the initial quakes hit.”

“Oh,” Tyler whimpered. He still had no idea whether Josh was safe or not. Whether he was alive or not. Tears were prickling in his eyes and he began to turn away before the man called after him.

“Hey,” he said, his voice low and nodded to Evie’s bandaged shin, “I know where you can get that girl’s leg checked out and have a safe place to rest for the night… It won’t cost you anything.”

Tyler gave him a skeptical look, “how?”

“Find the medical tent at the edge of the city,” the man said and smiled sadly, “find a woman named Margaret. Tell her that Stevie sent you. She’ll take care of you.” Tyler thanked him, and they moved to leave the market and make their way to the edge of the city.

            “What do we do now?” Zack asked, his voice hopeless.

“What do you mean?” Tyler inquired, gripping the handles of the wheelbarrow so tightly it hurt.

“I mean, we don’t even know if Josh’s alive,” Zack whispered, “should we just go home?”

“No,” Tyler replied immediately, seething, “absolutely not. If there’s a chance. I mean any chance that Josh is alive, I’m going to find him and I’m going to bring him home.” Zack sighed deeply but nodded and the trio made their way deeper into Elk City, their stomachs churning and their hearts heavy.


	5. Red Tent of Death

-

            _They’d been on tour for months and every show was like a rebirth for Tyler. Every night they stepped on stage, he was absolutely blown away at the pure adoration that flowed between he and the audience. He loved them, each individually and he could feel in the air that they loved him too. Every night was exhilarating and completely exhausting. He was giving them nearly everything he had. With each show, their set became more refined and the more satisfied Tyler felt for having created something capable of touching people so deeply. When he got to meet fans, a lot of them cried which made him a little uncomfortable but he was touched that his music left such a mark on so many people. That was why he poured his soul into every song. Sure, the songs weren’t new for him but when he went out on that stage, he was bound and determined to make sure every soul in the audience came away feeling something they’d never felt before._

_He missed his family and even Jenna, quite a bit. Jenna would occasionally fly in to meet them and on those nights, Josh was withdrawn. However, despite Jenna’s efforts to seduce him, Tyler had only slept with her once since they’d left on tour, so as not to arouse suspicion. To say that it was difficult would be a lie. Jenna was a beautiful specimen of female kind, but Tyler’s heart wasn’t in it. He had waited until Josh had gone to bed and stayed as far away from their bunks as possible, but Josh had known and hardly spoken to him for nearly a week afterwards and Tyler didn’t blame him. After a while, though, things had gradually gone back to normal between them._

_When they weren’t pressured into playing as though they were **only** best friends, they spent their nights in Josh’s bunk with the curtain closed, Tyler’s head tucked against Josh’s shoulder, looking at photos from the previous shows, while Josh looked at memes. It had become so routine, Tyler almost felt like they were a normal couple. He could almost see the rest of their lives together drawn out before his eyes like a map and he liked it. He wanted it so bad, he could taste it. He carried that desire with him everywhere they went._

_They had just done a show in Louisville, Kentucky and Tyler couldn’t stop smiling. The place had been packed, and the energy was palpable. Tyler found himself incapable of not looking back at Josh, who’d been covered in a sheen of sweat as he pounded at his drums. Tyler had thought he looked absolutely gorgeous. After the show, Tyler was filled with a sense of bittersweet loss that hit him as they left each venue. He would miss these people as much as if he’d known them each personally._

_On the bus, he washed the black paint from his hands and neck before slipping under the cool water of the shower. He felt like all of his senses were heightened and every nerve and synapse were hyperreactive and alight. He was reveling in the sensation of the water running down his back, when tattooed arms wrapped around his waist. Tyler turned in Josh’s arms and pressed their foreheads together._

_“You were great out there, tonight,” Josh told him as Tyler moved to wrap his arms around his neck._

_“Me?” Tyler asked, blinking away droplets of water rolling down his face, “you were absolutely amazing. I could barely take my eyes off you.”_

_“I just feed off the energy that you put out,” Josh said conspiratorially, “the way you put your heart into every note. Your voice. The way you play. You’re just… perfect.” Josh kissed him lazily then and they slowly shifted back against the tile, water spraying over them._

_It was Tyler who deepened the kiss, skimming Josh’s bottom lip with his tongue, begging entry. Josh acquiesced, and Tyler lost himself in the minty taste of his mouth. He threaded his fingers through Josh’s hair as he massaged his tongue with his own.  He was already growing hard against Josh’s thigh. Undisturbed by the chilly water, Tyler’s skin grew hot as Josh pinned one of his wrists to the cool tile and with the other hand, reached down to stroke him._

_Tyler moaned against Josh’s mouth and unwittingly bucked his hips into the delicious friction of Josh’s palm. Josh pulled back before latching on just beneath Tyler’s ear. Tyler could feel his ruby-haired friend’s erection against his hip as he tilted his head to give Josh better access to his neck. He’d learned a neat trick with concealer to hide the love bites, recently and the rest of the time his neck was covered in black paint, so Josh didn’t hold back as he continued to caress and tease Tyler._

_“I-I want you so bad,” Josh breathed against the brunette’s neck as he pressed him impossibly closer to the wall._

_Tyler was out of his mind with pleasure, completely blissed out with sensation. He wanted more than anything to have Josh completely. To have him inside him._

_“O-okay,” Tyler said softly, his eyes squeezed shut._

__

            _Josh froze against him for a moment before leaning up to kiss his lips. The ruby-haired man moved to turn off the shower and pushed open the shower door. Tyler stood there, puzzled and still hard. Josh returned after a moment with a towel over his freckled shoulder and another in his hands. He dropped the towel on top of Tyler’s head and commenced drying Tyler’s short hair, haphazardly. He, then, sensuously began drying the rest of his body, spending extra time below Tyler’s waist. Tyler gasped as the coarse fabric dragged against the length of his erection._

_Josh took a moment to dry himself, rushing comically as Tyler stepped from the shower. Josh threw their towels down and grasped Tyler’s hand and pulled him toward their bunks. He pulled back the curtain and ushered Tyler inside. Tyler lay naked on the bedspread as Josh fumbled in his bag. After a moment, he pulled out a condom and a large bottle with a pump on top._

_Tyler couldn’t help but laugh, “Josh, why do you have a giant bottle of lube?”_

_Josh blushed, “well… for you. You never know when you’re gonna need some.”_

_Tyler snorted, and Josh silenced him by wrapping his free hand around the brunette’s erection, “not so funny now, is it?”_

_“It’s still hilarious,” Tyler moaned, a mischievous smile on his lips._

_“You’ll thank me later,” Josh told him closing his mouth over Tyler’s. After a few minutes of touching, Tyler was dangerously close to climax and Josh suddenly dropped his hand away. Tyler whimpered at the loss of touch._

_“You sure about this?” Josh asked him seriously. Tyler wanted Josh so badly in that moment that all he could do was nod his head profusely._

_“Okay,” Josh whispered, stroking the inside of Tyler’s thigh, “this next part might be a little uncomfortable.” Tyler already knew what was coming next and he wasn’t dreading it. They’d both done their research. Josh pulled him, by the thighs, to the edge of the bunk, leaving his legs splayed. Tyler blushed as Josh knelt between his legs and reached down to pump a bit of lube on to his fingers._

_The next few minutes were both uncomfortable and heavenly. Josh slowly prepped him for what was to come and inevitably there was some pain. Knowing that Josh’s fingers were inside him, working him open was both humiliating and lovely. Gradually the pain receded, and Tyler began to keen with pleasure as Josh’s fingers slid easily in and out of him. Soon after, there was nothing but sweet, sweet ecstasy and Josh slowly withdrew his fingers. He ripped open the condom with his teeth and rolled it on.  He reached down and put a little lube in his palm and began, to Tyler’s elation, to stroke himself. After a moment, he leaned down and wiped his hands on a discarded T-shirt that Tyler prayed wasn’t his._

_He slowly climbed back into the bunk, on top of Tyler, whose eyes were half-lidded with pleasure. Josh kissed him softly and stroked his cheek. He pulled back and for a moment, he just stared into Tyler’s eyes and Tyler could tell how much this meant to him. Not the sex, per say, but this. This intimacy that they were sharing. They’d never been this close and soon, Josh would take him completely. Tyler kissed the corner of his mouth and nodded. He hated himself for what happened next._

_It was as Josh pulled Tyler’s legs around him, that the first hint of guilt and anxiety hit. Josh looked at him a moment to gauge his reaction and he must have looked okay because Josh began to grind against him and despite the arousal flowing through him, Tyler’s breath was beginning to hitch. He began asking himself if he was ready to end his marriage and thinking of how devastating the divorce would be for his family and he wondered if he would lose his house near his parents. He pictured the look on Jenna’s face when he told her that he was leaving her for his best friend._

_Josh was just beginning to press into him when Tyler began to hyperventilate. Josh stopped at once and scooted off of Tyler, pulling him up into a sitting position._

_“What’s wrong, Tyler?” Josh asked rubbing his back, which had broken out in a cold sweat, “did I hurt you?” Josh’s eyes were filled with compassion and concern as he stared at Tyler, helplessly. Tyler hadn’t had a panic attack like this in years and Josh was scared that he’d done something wrong._

_“I’m going to screw it up,” Tyler gasped, reaching up to loosely grab his throat, “I’m going to screw up, Josh.” Josh brushed his hand away from his throat and held it._

_“Tyler, it’s just sex,” his ruby-haired friend explained, trying to laugh it off, “we’ve both informed ourselves of how to do this properly. If it’s too painful you know we can stop, Tyler. I’d never intentionally hurt you.”_

_“Not that,” Tyler cried, rocking a little, “everything. My marriage is going to be over. I’m going to get divorced. My family is going to hate me. I’m going to lose my house. It’ll be all over the internet. Everyone will know why.”_

_Josh blanched, pulled off the condom, and took Tyler in his arms to stop his rocking, “It’s going to be okay, Tyler. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but we’re going to make it through this. Together. Your family won’t hate you. Zack knows, and he still loves you. And… maybe Jenna will understand. I know she’ll be hurt but I think she’ll want you to be happy.” Tyler heard him and in some part of his mind, he knew Josh was probably right. That none of this would matter someday. Despite that, he was still filled with fear so deeply that the edges of his vision were blacking out. He thought maybe that was just from all the hyperventilation._

_Josh gathered him up in his arms and pulled him into the bunk. He cradled Tyler to his chest and began to sing softly to him, like he always had when Tyler’s anxiety got really bad. It wasn’t anything that Tyler was familiar with, but it was sweet and calming and Josh’s soft timbre drew him out of himself. His breathing began to slow as Josh smoothed his short hair. His thoughts still swirled like wasps around his brain, but the sting was muted. He suddenly felt entirely drained and his eyes grew heavy. Josh sang quietly until Tyler was lulled to sleep by his voice and the sound of his heartbeat. They slept that night in a naked tangle, Tyler clinging to Josh as though for dear life, as the bus rolled on through the night._

-

            Tyler, Zack and Evie pushed their wheelbarrow dejectedly through Elk City, taking in the ramshackle surroundings. For every building that was crumbled and destroyed there was a quickly raised wooden shack, shoddy but livable. Much like what they’d seen in Oklahoma City, there were multiple groups of children of varying ages engaged in lessons, spread on the grass sitting Indian style around blackboards on wheels. Tyler was nearly thirty years old and he was entirely traumatized by the events that had occurred. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for a child. He supposed that getting back normalcy as quickly as possible was important. He looked over at Evie’s frowning face and thought of how she’d seen things far too awful for a girl her age and he vowed to protect her and her innocence in any way he could.

            They saw more laborers throughout the city, mostly doing repairs and cleanup but some of the older laborers sat at booths offering advice and guidance in surviving this tragedy. They passed a woman who must have been in her late nineties, explaining how her family had survived the dust bowl and the country’s financial collapse. The thought of rebuilding hadn’t even occurred to Tyler until then. He suddenly realized that finding Josh and making it home safely were just the beginning of his troubles.

            Breadlines were forming all over the city, as dusk set in. Tyler supposed these were put in place for the residents of the city who had no way to forage for tradable goods. Many of the people in line were dirty and emaciated as though life was no easier before the quakes. They were probably, in fact, receiving more help now than they ever had when the country was still a functioning entity. They heard whispers amongst the crowds, in regard to the lack of government but were comforted to see no real signs of unrest from the citizens. Tyler wasn’t sure what he would do if he were to be caught in a riot, but he didn’t want to find out.

Eventually, near another barrier, they saw a large red tent in the distance. As they neared, they were hit with the scent of rotting flesh and Tyler’s stomach heaved.

“I’m guessing we’ve found the medical tent,” Zack coughed, pulling the collar of his shirt over his mouth to mask the smell.

“We have to go in there?” Evie asked, looking a little green, “it smells like death even from here!”

            “After what we heard, I just want to curl up and sleep somewhere we don’t have to watch our backs for once,” Zack said, his voice muffled through the cloth. So, they continued toward the tent, faces covered against the smell, to no avail. As they approached, Tyler became acutely aware of the sounds of dozens moaning in pain. What they saw, then, was horrifying.

            Doctors and nurses ran around the packed tent, their scrubs covered in blood and viscera, each of them looking extremely exhausted. Some of the patients looked like they’d been hospitalized before the quakes but for the majority, it was clear that many unlucky people had been maimed and battered by the destruction. One man was screaming steadily, his arm missing from the elbow down. A nurse carrying a roll of medical tape ran into Zack, then turned and glared.

“What do you need?” she demanded, her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.

“We were told to find Margaret,” Zack told her, trying not to gag at the smell.

“You’ll have to wait, obviously,” she told them, with a roll of her eyes and walked briskly away.

            Between the stench and the screams, Tyler was wobbling on his feet. Without a word, he stumbled out of the tent and walked, for a minute, around its length and while the screams quieted, the smell of decay increased and before he could turn around, he soon saw the source. Beneath a billowing tarp was a pile of bodies, broken and missing limbs, flies swarming around them. They were in various states of decay and the buzz of scavenging insects was maddening. Tyler was repulsed to see among the piles of dead were children. The youngest couldn’t have been more than four, with ragged stumps for legs. Tears sprang in his eyes and he turned and vomited on his shoes. He threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach and dry heaved for even longer. Finally, he turned and ran, not sure where he was intending to go.

            He ran headlong into Zack at the opening of the tent. Zack grabbed him by the shoulders and was startled by what he saw.

“The-The smell,” Tyler began, his stomach flipping.

Just then a woman in blood stained scrubs and a surgical mask stepped out of the tent, “can I help you?” Her brown eyes were ringed with dark circles that didn’t take away from her obvious beauty.

“Stevie told us to come find you,” Zack told her, his voice muffled, “our friend was injured. My brother bandaged her up, but she probably needs proper treatment. We need a place to stay for the night.”

She pulled her blood-soaked gloves off with a snap and discarded them on the ground, “Stevie sent you? What’s happened?”

“There was another earthquake,” Evie piped up, looking much younger than sixteen in her misery, “it was really bad.”

“From what he told us,” Zack uttered, “the majority of the eastern seaboard is gone.”

            Margaret looked even more weary than Tyler thought possible and she swayed on her feet. Zack reached out and gently took her arm to steady her.

“I-I had a sister living in Maine,” she cried softly and despite his being a complete stranger, she embraced Zack and started to cry. Zack didn’t try to pull away. Tears burned in the eyes of every member of the trio, mourning the loss of thousands upon thousands of lives.

            After a moment, Margaret pulled back and pulled down her surgical mask.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized weakly, “I’m so tired. So, so tired and then this…”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Zack comforted, wiping a tear from his eye.

She looked down at Evie’s bandaged shin, which was a little brown with dried blood, “I only have a few minutes, but I can take a look at that.”

            A few moments later, Evie sat down on a bucket, as a freshly-gloved Margaret peeled the bandage away. The wound was ugly and needed cleaning, but it didn’t look infected.

“Not too bad,” the doctor told her, pouring alcohol on a cotton ball, “should heal up nicely. Probably leave a scare but scars are cool.” She smiled up at Evie, who surprised Tyler and returned the gesture. He’d never seen her smile before.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Zack told her, “but… the smell?”

“The bodies,” Tyler added weakly.

Margaret dabbed the alcohol on the wound, leaving Evie wincing in pain, “we haven’t exactly got an undertaker here. The damned military is too busy bringing them in to take away the dead. We’re waiting for them to send those poor unfortunate laborers to come and take them to a mass grave in the center of the city. We’re on the waitlist. There’s a lot of dead waiting to be disposed of in the city.” Tyler hadn’t seen any mass graves, so far, and he prayed he’d seen all death he had to in his life.

            The doctor applied some ointment to Evie’s wound and wrapped it in fresh bandages.

“Keep that clean,” Margaret said finally, “I’ve got to go. We have a serious morphine shortage and I have five double amputees barely clinging to life. Head straight down the street, find a red shack. You can stay with us for the night. Stevie should be there soon, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to leave.” The trio thanked her and left her to go back her work. They veered far from the tent at Tyler’s request until the stench of death receded. None of them had appreciated the smell of clean air more than in that moment. They started down the cracked street, and found themselves in a neighborhood of makeshift houses, most were built with logs and 2x4s, but some were made of larger pieces of debris and stone. Finally, toward the end of the neighborhood they found the shack. It was spray painted a glossy red and looked more like a cabin than a shack. Tyler assumed it was painted this way, so Margaret could be easily found in case of any emergency.

            They let themselves in through the opening that served as the doorway and pulled the wheelbarrow in to place against a wall. It was surprisingly cozy inside. It was quite a bit smaller than a normal house, but it split off into two rooms. One had two mats pushed together, a locked chest against the wall, and appeared to be Stevie and Margaret’s bedroom. The larger room was sparsely decorated with a dingy loveseat, mismatched kitchen chairs and a table and seemed to serve as a living room. There was a large candle on the table and Zack lit it with a box of matches lying beside it.

            They had a nearly silent dinner of canned green beans, eaten with their fingers. Tyler had never liked green beans before the quakes and he didn’t like them any better now, but his stomach had ached from throwing up and the slimy beans lessened the pain significantly. Shortly after, Stevie returned, pulling a wagon full of miscellaneous gear, including their gasoline. He looked unsurprised to see them as he pulled his haul into his and Margaret’s bedroom and unlocked the chest. He began to pile the contents of the wagon inside, taking care to wrap his emergency radio equipment in a soft towel before locking the chest. He left the wagon and came out to greet them another large candle in hand.

            “Hopefully Margaret will be home sometime in the middle of the night,” Stevie told them, lighting the candle’s wick off the other, “I’ve barely seen her since this all happened. She’s hardly slept.”

“How did she come to be one of the only doctors in the city?” Zack asked, softly.

“She worked at a small private practice downtown,” Stevie began, taking his glasses off to clean their lenses, “when the quakes hit, the hospital suffered structural damage and collapsed. Most of the doctors and surgeons who weren’t lucky enough to be home when it happened are either dead or patients of Margaret’s now.”

            “What’d you do before this?” Tyler inquired quietly.

“I owned a pawnshop,” Stevie told him, placing his cracked frames over his nose, “it was mostly filled with junk, but I was able to salvage the emergency radio equipment and that’s been the only thing keeping us comfortable. The military gave us this hut and some rations in exchange for Marge’s services but without the radio, we’d probably be going to bed pretty hungry still.” Eventually, when the night was dark, Stevie brought out a stack of blankets and a couple of pillows.

“One of you can take the loveseat for the night,” Stevie told them before he left them to go to his own bed, taking a candle with him.

            Zack and Tyler both insisted that Evie take the loveseat and the brothers spread out on the damp grass that served as the floor of the shack. Tyler turned to face the wooden wall and tried his best to wrap himself in the threadbare blanket he was provided. Soon, Zack was snoring in a way Tyler envied. Sleep avoided him despite his exhaustion. He couldn’t get all of the death out of his head. He saw the face of the dead Norton brother, the dead bodies in cars they’d passed and the pile of quake victims, discarded like litter in the dirt. He thought of the thousands of dead, washed away into the oceans and rivers, whose families would never get the chance to say goodbye. He couldn’t stop imagining Josh among the dead bodies, his brown eyes open toward the sky asking why Tyler hadn’t come for him. His breath was hitching in his chest and he fought off sobs from the tears pouring down his face. He wished desperately that he could speak to Josh and know that he was okay, but cell phones were now a thing of the past.

            His fear that he would never find Josh was so incalculably large, that it was all he could to not scream.

His breaths were beginning to heave from his chest when Evie asked, “Tyler? Are you asleep?” He wanted not to answer. To lay there and cry until exhaustion finally overtook him but instead he rolled over and answered in a wrecked voice, “No.” She climbed off the loveseat and came towards him in the dark.

“Are you alright?” she whispered, kneeling down beside him.

“Is anyone okay, right now?” he asked by way of an answer, his breaths still loud and whooping.

“Are you worried about Josh?” she asked softly. Fresh tears rolled down his cheeks as he nodded profusely.

            “Can I help in some way?” Evie asked kindly.

Tyler thought about it for a moment, “tell me about where you came from?”

Evie hesitated, “it’s not a happy story.”

“No one’s is anymore,” Tyler replied, leaning up. The girl paused thoughtfully before taking a deep breath.

            When she next spoke, her voice was somber, “I never knew my parents, but I once broke into the office at the home, when I was younger and saw that my mom’s name was Lucy and she was my age when she gave me up. The report suspected I was a product of assault, judging by how skittish she was. I grew up in a group home in New Mexico. Most people want to adopt babies, so they can raise them like they’re their own, but I guess being labelled a rape baby kind of changes people’s minds. You don’t know what kind of person your kid’s going to become when half of their DNA comes from a rapist.” She paused momentarily, her eyes glistening in the candlelight.

“I guess that’s what my mom thought, too when she left me,” she told him after a moment, “So, I grew up in a group home and every time I made a new friend, they either were adopted or aged out. I was lonely as is and then the home’s owner died, and his daughter took over. She was really cruel.”

Her voice became angry then, “she would use isolation as punishment, like we were in prison. She’d make them stay in a locked supply closet and the only contact you were allowed was her bringing you your food. Not just for hours, for days. Kids were going insane in there, ripping their hair out and refusing to eat and stuff.”

Her watery, green eyes blazed with fury as she continued, “one day, this little kid, Jeremy, made the mistake of pissing her off. He accidentally spilled a cup of soup on her shoes or something.”

Tyler was aghast at her tale, thus far, and still it grew darker, “She beat him. Right there in the cafeteria in front of everyone and dragged him off to the closet. He was only six. He didn’t even understand what he’d done wrong. I had had enough. I broke into her office after she’d gone home and found the closet key. I tried to let Jeremy out but… it was like he had been brainwashed. He just kept rocking back and forth and saying ‘I’m a bad boy. I’m a bad boy.’ It was horrible. I turned, and I ran. I ran straight out the front door and kept running until I couldn’t breathe.”

            She took a deep breath and looked up at the slack-jawed brunette before her, “I was on the run for about a week after that. I ate out of trash cans and slept in the woods. I’d made it to the state line of Texas before the quakes started. I almost got smashed by trees before I made it out of the woods. The next day, Jim and Derik found me sleeping on the side of the road and it’s safe to say they were bad guys before all this, but they took me and threw me in the back of a truck. I’m pretty sure they were going to sell me as some kind of fucked up sex slave. I finally got the guts to jump out of the bed when they slowed down outside of Oklahoma City, but they found me really quickly… then I met you guys.”

            Tyler fought the urge to hug the poor girl. He’d never faced half the hardship in his life that she had. The monsters in his life, until now, had been of his own mind, while hers were very real.

At last he said all he could think to say, “I’m so sorry.”

Evie snorted and stood up, “like you said: No one’s story is happy anymore. At least it’s better with you guys.”

            With that, she left him to digest her story and eventually he’d fallen asleep. He woke to Zack shaking him.

“Let’s get out of this God forsaken city,” Zack whispered, after Tyler had sat up. Tyler didn’t bother to tell him that it seemed that God had forsaken every city in the country. Evie was already awake and ready, her hands wrapped around the wheelbarrows handles. He felt like he hadn’t slept a wink but despite that, he rose, and they left the red shack. He looked back at it over his shoulder and hoped that everything would work out for Stevie and Margaret. They seemed like they were nice people.

            The sky was a starry purplish-pink as sunrise began. They made their way back to the barrier they’d seen the previous evening. At the gate, they handed their stack of receipts to the armed guard and he cleared them to leave the city. He found their names on a checklist and gave back their weapons and sent another guard to retrieve their van. Finally, in the crackled parking lot, packed with vehicles, they loaded their supplies into the van and abandoned their wheelbarrow.

            Tyler climbed into the driver’s seat and waited while Evie and Zack belted themselves in. They followed primitive postings to the exit and were waved out by, yet another, armed guard. The trio breathed a collective sigh of relief to be free from Elk City, despite its protections. And as the sun rose steadily higher in the sky, they continued west. To Josh.


	6. High Speed Chase

-

            _They had done a leg of the tour in Australia and New Zealand that lasted a week or so. After that, they’d taken about a month off, but now, back on the road, Tyler was beginning to be really tired of travelling. It’d been almost a year of shows, all over the world and he loved it. He loved it so much, but he was reaching a point where he was ready to let ‘Blurryface’ go. He was ready and entirely not ready for the Emotional Roadshow to end. He and Josh both knew their time was running out and their month apart, after all these months side by side, had still been painful to endure. Things were tense at home between Jenna and he and while he understood why a rift had formed, she seemed to be trying desperately to bridge the gap between them. For that month, his guilt ravaged his soul. He’d barely slept, partially because of the weight of his actions hanging like a lead blanket on his shoulders but mostly because after sleeping beside his yellow-haired best friend for nearly a year, anything else paled in comparison. He’d missed the smell of his shampoo on his pillow. He’d even missed the smell of Josh’s morning breath, when he kissed him awake each day._

_They were heading to the comically named George, Washington. It was their second to last show of the official tour. They had a few more dates planned in exclusive clubs around the Columbus area but after that, it was back to the hiatus. Tyler had devious plans for the coming year but until then, he knew he’d have to go dark. He was looking forward to getting back into the creative flow, rather than playing things he loved but knew like the back of his hand._

_He sat on the edge of Josh’s bunk strumming his ukulele, while Josh sat in the kitchen eating a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. He was singing quietly under his breath when he was thrown into the wall of Josh’s bunk and heard Josh’s bowl crash to the floor as the bus’s brakes squealed. They slammed to a halt and Josh was already on his feet, lifting Tyler by his elbow._

_“You alright?” the yellow-haired man asked, his face puzzled and worried. Tyler nodded, and they moved to leave the bus and investigate. At the front of the bus, the driver was leaning from the window cursing._

_“What’s going on, man?” Tyler asked, praying it wasn’t some sort of a mechanical difficulty. They were supposed to arrive in George by six in the morning and they were already a bit behind schedule._

_“There’s a dog in the road,” the driver complained, “I think it’s hurt or something.” Tyler turned to look at Josh, but he was already walking ahead, toward a shadow in the headlights. Tyler followed him reluctantly. As they neared, the dog whimpered and tried to crawl away. He was a medium sized, curly haired mutt with floppy ears and a cropped tail. His back, right leg ended in a bloody stump._

_“He’s missing a leg,” Tyler told Josh dully, grabbing his shoulder to keep him from approaching too quickly._

_“Poor guy,” Josh said, brushing off Tyler’s hand. He crouched down and slowly made his way forward. The dog continued to whimper but showed no real signs of aggression._

_Josh looked quickly over his shoulder at Tyler, his brown eyes blazing in the glare of the headlights, “I need something to feed him.”_

_Tyler rolled his eyes but ran back into the bus and grabbed the first thing he could think of: a pack of slim jims. He ran back to the front of the bus and thrust the box into Josh’s hand. The drummer ripped open one of the meat sticks and renewed his crawling toward the dog, who was staring at Josh with large, frightened eyes. When he was about a foot away, Josh slowly held the meat stick toward the dog. The dog sniffed it for a moment before leaning out to gently take it. Josh smiled triumphantly back at Tyler and took his chances to pet the dog._

_“You’re a good doggo,” Josh cooed at the curly haired animal, scratching him behind the ears. The dog licked the fingers that had held the slim jim._

_“What do we do now?” the brunette asked, staring paranoid into the dark._

_“We gotta take him to a vet or something or he’s going to bleed out,” Josh explained, “I’m gonna do something kind of risky.” And before Tyler could ask for an explanation, Josh had scooped the dog into his arms._

_He carried the dog to the roadie van that followed behind the bus, every night, and Tyler wrapped his knuckles on the driver side window. One of the roadies rolled it down with a look of confusion._

_“We need to go to an emergency vet,” Josh stated as the dog licked his chin. The roadie took a second to find a 24 hour vet on his GPS, and the boys piled into the crowded van._

_That’s how Josh and Tyler found themselves sitting in the surprisingly crowded waiting room of an emergency veterinarian, Josh covered in blood and clutching the dog in his lap. Tyler grew worried for the amount of blood the animal was losing but the pup remained alert and friendly. He’d even licked Tyler’s hand as he moved to help Josh out of the van. Another dog barked continuously at the other end of the lobby, grating on Tyler’s nerves but Josh appeared to remain positive._

_Finally, after an hour or so, the nurse ushered the duo into an examination room. She asked about the dog’s background and Tyler listened quietly as Josh explained how they came across their furry friend. With what little information they could provide, the nurse checked the dog’s pulse and left quickly. After a few minutes, the vet joined them in the examination room._

_“Okay, so, based on what the nurse has explained, it seems like this little guy had a pretty bad accident,” the vet started, kneeling down to examine the dog, “since the limb is missing, we’re going to have to take him into surgery to clean up and close the wound and make sure there’s no damage to the arteries.” A nurse came in with a cart, then, and Josh looked reluctant to let go of the pup but took in Tyler’s reassuring smile and nodded. He placed the dog on the cart and they took him away. A nurse led them back to the lobby._

_Tyler dozed on and off, his head on Josh’s shoulder. Josh however was restless, and he tapped the toes of his shoe nervously on the tile flooring. When awake, Tyler stared at the clock, watching as the hour grew later and later, knowing that it’d likely be well into the morning when they finally reached George._

_Tyler was having trouble keeping his eyes open when the nurse approached them and whispered, “you can come on back.”_

_Tyler followed somewhat dazedly but Josh never faltered as she led them back to the examination room, where the dog lay sleeping on an exam table. The vet smiled up at them, optimistically._

_“How is he?” Josh asked a bit too eagerly._

_“He’s going to be just fine,” the vet explained, patting the sleeping dog, “other than a risk of post-surgical infection, most dogs adapt extremely well to the loss of a limb.” Josh beamed and hugged Tyler, leaving blood smeared down the front of the brunette’s white T-shirt._

_“There is one problem,” the vet started, her smile faltering for a moment, “he has no microchip.”_

_The boys exchanged a confused glance before she explained, “we can’t locate his owner. Without a way to find out who he belongs to, we’ll be forced to turn him over to the pound.”_

_“No!” Josh exclaimed, at once._

_“Then you’ll take him?” she asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Josh looked to Tyler for acceptance and the brunette simply grinned and shrugged._

_“Absolutely,” Josh answered ecstatically._

_“What would you like to call him?” the vet asked, picking up a clipboard and pen._

_“Steven,” the yellow-haired drummer replied without pause._

_“Steven?” Tyler inquired with a cocked eyebrow._

_“He just feels like a Steven to me,” Josh stated with a shrug._

_“Well, then, you guys are now the proud owners of a three legged dog,” the vet told them with a broad grin. She then explained the aftercare that would be required for his leg to heal properly, gave them some antibiotics and a cone, and advised them to make a follow up appointment with a vet as soon as possible._

_Back in the bus and continuing on their way to George, Josh sat petting Steven’s curly fur as though in awe of the creature. Tyler watched him from afar with a smile on his face. He didn’t often have the opportunity to see Josh’s nurturing side and it now gave him a paternal glow of sorts. It solidified what Tyler already knew in his heart but had never put into words._

_Finally, with a still sleeping Steven placed gently at the foot of their bunk, Josh and Tyler stripped from their blood-stained clothes and crawled into bed. Tyler paused as he went to close the curtain, staring at Josh, who was burrowing down into the covers._

_“What?” Josh inquired with a perplexed smile._

_“I-I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Josh.” The words tumbled from his mouth before he could think to stop them. Josh snorted and moved to grab Tyler’s waist._

_Tyler eluded his grasp and looked at him earnestly, “I mean it.”_

_“W-What are you saying” Josh asked, squinting suspiciously._

_Tyler thought about it a moment, “after this is all over… I want to marry you. I want to share my life with you… and Steven.”_

_Josh might have laughed if he hadn’t been so touched by the sentiment. He leaned up and kissed the brunette before pulling him down into the warmth of their shared bed. He held Tyler tighter than he ever had and they both thought a lot of what this confession meant for the future of their relationship before slipping serenely into sleep. Steven was their constant companion the rest of the tour._

-

            Tyler hadn’t thought of Steven in a while. He hoped that he, along with Josh, was alive and kicking. They’d driven well into the morning, sticking when they could to the crowded and decayed highway. It seemed that Elk City had taken something from them besides their supplies. The trio had ridden, mostly, in stoic silence and despite his great desire to break it, Tyler couldn’t think of a single thing to say that wouldn’t lead to only more heartbreak.

            Evie read and re-read some tabloid magazine she’d found under the passenger seat and Zack stared out the passenger window, a look of guarded boredom on his face. They’d been on the road over six hours and they’d stopped only once to pour the rest of their gas into the tank. They’d discussed stopping somewhere to try to trade for gas but more and more frequently, the gas stations they saw that weren’t derelict or burnt down had large signs indicating that the remaining fuel was to be used by military vehicles only.

            Tyler wasn’t sure who was leading them now that the government had fallen. He supposed they were being lead from within and that brought him some fear. He hadn’t exactly been hanging on the hopes of the government coming to their aid but now that he knew for a fact that there was no government to aid them, he was terrified of what lay around the corner. All he knew was that if by some miracle Tyler made it home to his family, their next task would be to re-create society in some form and delegate responsibilities to ensure their safety.

            He knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be the one to lead. He was just a guy who really loved basketball, tacos, and music. Zack was the obvious choice. He was brave, decisive, and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to keep them alive. Tyler felt weak in comparison. He couldn’t even kill to save his own life, let alone someone else’s. Zack had proven himself more than capable. He had a freaking six pack, for God’s sake, whereas Tyler was thin as a rail. The only place he’d ever been able to find strength was through his music and in the current state of the world, that didn’t exactly do him any good.

            At last, he couldn’t take the silence any longer. He slowed to a stop on the shoulder of the highway and threw the van in park.

“What are you doing?” Zack asked sourly. Tyler chose to ignore him.

“Evie, have you ever driven before?” Tyler inquired, looking over his shoulder at the girl. She shook her head with wide eyes. Tyler smiled at her.

He opened the driver side door and said in the goofiest voice he could muster, “you gon’ learn today!” Zack gave him a scathing glare and Tyler hopped out of the van. Evie reluctantly slid open the back door of the van and Tyler took her place in the back seat.

Evie climbed into the driver’s seat and looked nervously between the brothers, “what do I do now?”

“Adjust your seat and mirrors,” Zack provided, surprisingly helpful.

“And buckle your seat belt,” Tyler added.

            They waited while she adjusted everything until she was comfortable and then she looked to Zack for guidance.

“Obviously, brake is on the left and gas is on the right,” Zack started, his voice becoming less and less forbidding, “to shift into gear, you want press to down the brake, and push the button on the side of the stick and shift it into drive.” She followed his instructions but left her foot on the brake.

“Now, let off the brake and put your foot on the gas really gently,” Tyler told her, “with just the toe of your shoe.” She hit the gas a bit too hard and sent them lurching forward before stamping on the brakes. The brothers couldn’t help but laugh. Evie frowned at them.

“Try again,” Zack instructed, “slower this time. Keep your hands at ten and two.” The girl tried again and this time, they started to move ever so slowly.

“Turn the wheel really carefully,” Tyler explained, a smile on his lips, “try not to overcorrect.” She moved them slowly around an abandon car before them and started forward. They rolled slowly, at about ten miles per hour.

“Alright,” Zack said, grinning despite himself, “let’s pick up some speed. Give her a little gas.” Evie pressed slowly on the gas pedal and they sped up gradually.

“Pull off the shoulder,” Tyler voiced with a chuckle, “let’s see how fast this baby can go.”

            Evie smiled at him in the rearview mirror and veered gently off the shoulder. Zack nodded at her and she floored it. He rolled down the windows and the trio laughed as the wind battered their faces. They flew through the dust, full of exhilaration. Tyler beamed from ear to ear as the silver van roared along the length of the highway. He was just about to suggest they start to slow down when a truck pulled out about two-hundred feet in front of them, before wheeling around to face them, head on.

            “Slow down!” He screamed, clutching the headrest of the driver seat.

“I’m not going to be able to stop in time!” Evie shrieked in reply. Zack was silent as he reached over and grabbed the wheel from her hands and swerved around the truck, just in time. As they passed, Tyler was filled with dread as he recognized the horrendous green paint job and the graffiti on the side reading ‘Nortons 4 Lyfe.’ Evie slammed on the brakes just past the beast of a vehicle, her breath heaving from her chest. Tyler looked through the back window and it was like seeing a ghost. The Norton brother, whom Zack had killed, stared into his soul with a hatred he couldn’t begin to fathom. The color drained from his face. It couldn’t be possible. Tyler had watched the life drain from his eyes. The sight haunted his dreams each night and yet here he was.

            Tyler was about to put some of these thoughts into words when the Norton brother revved his engine and slammed on the gas.

“Go, go, go!” Zack yelled as the truck screamed towards them, showing no sign of stopping. Evie floored the gas and once again, they shot forward through the arid desert. The enormous truck showed no signs of slowing as Evie drove, white knuckled, through the dust.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” she shouted with a glance in her rearview mirror. Tyler buckled on his seatbelt as the truck gained on them, its immense tires throwing dirt.

“He’s gonna hit us!” Tyler cried out, his heart pounding in his chest.

            Sure enough, the back end of the van shifted as the Norton brother slammed into their bumper. The trio screeched as the tires swayed beneath them. Evie struggled to right them just as the truck sped up, again.

“You’re going to have to cut on to the highway,” Zack told her, a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“But the cars!” Evie protested, her eyes wide.

“Do it!” Zack shouted through gritted teeth. At the next gap in the cars, Evie swerved on to the road.

“We’re going to die!” Evie cried, tears running down her freckled cheeks.

            “Not if you listen to me,” Zack told her, his voice eerily calm. Norton turned in behind them, his truck fishtailing a bit.

“Go left!” Zack screamed as they neared an abandoned sedan. She managed the turn at the last second. She barely managed to right them when the truck banged their bumper, again, wracking the trio inside.

“I want you to drive straight towards this dump truck,” Zack explained, his nails digging into the arm rest,” then at the last second I want you to swerve to the right.”

“You’re insane,” Evie yelled, hysterically, “we’re not going to make it, Zack!”

            “Trust me,” Zack pleaded, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder. The traffic was forcing them to slow and Norton was gaining on them dangerously, a reckless abandon in his technique. He scraped and slid against cars as he chased the trio down with savage loathing. Evie looked to Tyler’s younger brother and nodded with determination. As the dump truck came into sight, Evie narrowed her eyes and slammed on the gas.

“Hold on,” she told the brothers. Tyler clung to the upholstery, his palms sweaty as they gunned it toward the dump truck, Norton hot on their tail. They were down to their last chance.

“One. Two. Three,” Zack screamed, his face red, “go right!”

            All Tyler could hear was the crashing and smashing of metal on metal. The van narrowly avoided the tail end of the dump truck as Evie veered sharply to the right, the siding of the van scraping against the dump truck but leaving them otherwise unscathed. Norton was less lucky. The large, neon green truck clipped the back corner of the vast dump truck, sending Norton spinning into the side of a Cadillac.

“Get off the road,” Zack told her, a small vengeful smile on his lips. Evie nodded and wove through the cars and on to the shoulder. The city of Albuquerque rose in the distance.

Tyler was dumbstruck, “how is it possible?”

            Zack gave him a questioning look as they gunned it toward city limits.

“H-he was dead,” Tyler uttered, his eyes dim with horror, “I saw him die.”

“Remember what Lou said?” Zack inquired bitterly, “he had a brother. The real question is, how did he find us?” The realization hit Tyler harder than a bat to the face. He ripped the travel pack from his shoulders and began to dig through it. Terror overtook the singer and his digging became more and more desperate.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Zack demanded, taking in his brother’s expression.

            “M-my phone,” Tyler said with panic, “I-I can’t find it.” He suddenly remembered the clatter of something falling from the pack as he climbed over the shattered glass of the window.

“No,” Zack responded, anger rising in his voice, “you’re freaking kidding me!”

“I swear it was just here,” Tyler claimed desperately.

“You should have left the damn thing behind the moment service went out,” Zack admonished his older brother.

“J-Josh,” Tyler started before Zack cut him off.

            “Yeah, we get it,” Zack spat, veins showing in his forehead, “you’re willing to risk yours and everyone else’s lives if it means you can be with your boyfriend.” It was Tyler’s turn to glare at his brother in outrage.

“You’re blaming me?” he demanded, leaning up to meet his brother’s eyes, “you’re the one who killed the guy!”

“You’d be dead if I hadn’t, Tyler,” the younger brother raged, “we’ve been over this!”

“Yeah, well now his twin brother is tracking us across the country and trying to kill us!” Tyler lashed out, incredulously.

“Because he found your damn cell phone,” Zack retorted, gesturing wildly with his hands, “we should have torched the place when we had the chance.”

            “Why are you so freaking blood-thirsty?!” Tyler bit back, “ever since we left that’s been your solution to everything. ‘Oh, hey, that guy cut me off in line. Better slit his throat!’ I’m not even sure who you are anymore!”

“Hey,” Evie interrupted as she continued to drive. The brothers ignored her.

“Oh, yeah?” Zack chided, “I’ll tell you who I’m not. I’m not an overambitious wuss who decided to cheat on his wife for over a year and dropped the person who they really loved until the freaking world ended.” Tyler blanched at the truth in his words.

“Hey! Shut up,” Evie snapped before the brothers could continue to rant and rave at each other.

“What?!” Zack and Tyler demanded simultaneously.

            “I hate to break up your stupid, married couple argument,” Evie remarked, “but we’re running out of gas.” The brothers had been too immersed in their bickering to realize the van had been rapidly decelerating. Now, the van was chugging slowly as it sucked up the last fumes of gas and the tank ran dry. The van slowed to a stop just within the city limits of Albuquerque.

“So,” Evie sighed dejectedly, “what do we do now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long guys, I had a pretty difficult time getting it out but I'm really excited for everything that comes next. Please let me know what you think. See you next chapter!!!


	7. The Breakdown

-

            _They had done it. It had been more than a year of shows and they finally were finished with the tour. They were just leaving the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, a venue they’d played many times before the pinnacle of their fame. They were positively brimming with endorphins as they pushed their way from the backstage exit door. They’d ended with ‘Trees,’ as always and the duo was covered with red confetti and sweat as they started toward Tyler’s car. It was a relief to Tyler to know that there was nothing keeping him from home, but he remained conflicted about being away from Josh, who was scheduled to leave Columbus for L.A. in a little less than two weeks._

_Tyler had told Jenna that he and Josh were going on a Taco Bell run after the show and he fully intended to, but he really just wanted to be in the drummer’s presence for as long as he could, before their time ran out. Sure, for the next two weeks he could spend as much time with him as he wanted, in theory, but there was a certain magic to everything that had happened between them during this tour. Steven waited for Josh back at his parents’ and he would be flying with Josh to L.A. when he left. The separation would be painful, but Tyler felt assured knowing that before he’d known it, they’d be back together again, in the studio, but even more likely, he’d finally get it together and Josh would come home, for good._

_Jenna had been acting pretty strange lately but he figured so had he, so Tyler tried not to think too much into it. He was afraid to think that she had somehow suspected him of cheating. She’d always been somewhat jealous of Tyler and Josh’s friendship but had warmed to Josh a lot over the last couple years, but recently she eyed him with a note of skepticism that Tyler wasn’t sure whether or not he was just imagining out of paranoia. He and Josh were getting closer to the pivotal moment when Tyler would finally dive headfirst into his and Josh’s relationship like he’d never fully done with Jenna._

_Since that night in Louisville, all those weeks ago, there had been no pressure from Josh to have sex. There had been plenty of moments when Tyler wanted him desperately and while he and Josh continued to fool around, it seemed the drummer was almost afraid of pushing Tyler too far. After his panic attack, Tyler didn’t blame him for a second. He knew that when the time came, he would have to be the one to initiate. He knew it was coming soon. He knew in the next two weeks, his marriage with Jenna would end and his life with Josh would begin, at long last._

_They were just pulling into the parking lot of Tyler’s favorite Taco Bell franchise and Tyler was raring to eat a chalupa. He was just finishing an argument with Josh about why nachos were better without sour cream and tomato when his cell phone started to ring. He retrieved it from his pocket, but he didn’t recognize the number._

_“Probably just a wrong number,” Tyler said with a laugh and declined the call. He and Josh went inside, and his phone began to ring again as he paid for his and Josh’s food, then once more as he was squeezing fire sauce onto a taco. He was beginning to become worried. He and Josh exchanged a glance._

_“Maybe you should answer it, Tyler,” Josh began before taking a sip of his drink, “what if… something happened to Jenna or something, and it’s an emergency.”_

_“But you would think if that was the case, they’d leave a voicemail,” Tyler retorted taking a big bite from his taco. By the time they had finished eating, the number had called an additional four times and the brunette was worried and annoyed simultaneously. It began to ring again as they were buckling themselves in and Tyler didn’t know what to do. Before he could think about it, Josh snatched the phone from his hand and slid to answer it._

_“Hello?” Josh spoke cautiously. He paused to listen to the response._

_“No, this is Josh,” the yellow-haired drummer said with a bewildered expression._

_After a moment, he placed his hand over the speaker and looked at Tyler._

_“He wants me to put it on speaker,” Josh told him, his brow furrowed._

_“Who is it?” Tyler inquired skeptically. Josh shrugged and after a second Tyler nodded. Josh hit the speaker button and sat the phone on the center console._

_“W-we’re here,” Tyler stuttered. A bad feeling was falling over him, and he knew in his heart that this caller’s intentions were no good._

_“Hello, gentlemen,” a heavily modulated voice greeted. The boys exchanged a look of suspicion. It sounded oddly like Blurryface._

_“What can I do for you, man?” Tyler asked somewhat impatiently. The answer was a bitter laugh that chilled the duo to their cores._

_“I’m really glad you asked,” the voice retorted, the deep monotone almost mocking, “you see, I have something that I think you’ll want.” Tyler grew nervous. He feared that this was some kind of kidnapping scenario. He couldn’t fight his sarcastic nature though._

_“If this is some sort of sales call, you’re doing a hell of a job,” the brunette said with a snort._

_“Oh, trust me,” the voice responded with another dark chuckle, “when you see what I have for sale, you’ll definitely want to be the first to get your hands on it.”_

_“I’m getting bored here,” Tyler spat despite the cold feeling rising in his guts._

_“Ah but I know exactly how to recapture your attention,” the voice spat back. Josh’s phone began to buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out with a perplexed expression. As he unlocked his phone, his face dropped._

_“What is it?” Tyler inquired, sweat breaking out on his forehead. Josh didn’t answer. He covered his face with his hands and let his phone drop into his lap. Tyler frowned and lifted the phone from his lap. His jaw dropped. On the display, in high definition, he held a picture of Josh and himself in the park, Tyler’s pants around his thighs and Josh in a compromising position between his legs. He couldn’t stifle the gasp that rose to his lips. Instantly, he felt panic rise in his chest. He was reeling. He told himself over and over that he had known that he should have been more watchful. He should have been able to contain himself and now he and Josh were both at risk._

_His breath was, yet again, was tearing from his lungs and only then did the voice give another demonic snicker._

_“I see you received the sample I sent,” the voice taunted._

_“T-there’s more?” Josh demanded, reaching over to squeeze Tyler’s sweaty hand._

_“Oh boy, you have no idea,” the voice replied, “you boys were pretty reckless. You put on quite a show.” Tyler felt like he might vomit. He was stunned into silence._

_“What do you want?” Josh bit back._

_“500,000 dollars,” the voice state simply. Tyler’s eyes watered as he met Josh’s glance._

_“How do we go-“ Josh began._

_“I wasn’t finished,” the voice interrupted, “500,000 dollars… apiece.” The pair blanched._

_“It should be chump change for you successful boys,” the voice continued. He wasn’t entirely wrong. They had the money but for Tyler explaining its disappearance might prove somewhat difficult._

_“Meet me at the park in three days at 9 p.m.,” the voice laughed darkly again, “I’m sure you know which one. Bring the money with you, in large bills. If you don’t show or you fail to bring the money, all the tabloids and your nearest and dearest will be receiving that pretty, little picture and then some.” With that, the voice simply ended the call, leaving Tyler hyperventilating. Josh reached across the car and pulled Tyler against him._

_“I’m so sorry, Tyler,” Josh cried to the brunette, “this is all my fault.” Despite his anxious state, Tyler shook his head profusely. It was his lack of self-control that had gotten them in this mess in the first place. After all, he’d driven them to that park. It was he who took Josh’s hand. It was even he who had kissed Josh all those months ago. It all came down to a common denominator, this all happened because he loved and desired Josh in a way he could no longer fight. Regret left him as easily as it came._

_“Maybe,” Tyler began, his back straining as Josh held him to his chest, “we shouldn’t give him the money.”_

_Josh pulled away, his expression incredulous, “w-what do you mean?”_

_“Maybe we should let him leak the pictures,” Tyler told his friend, staring down at his black jeans._

_“No,” Josh replied immediately. Tyler looked up into Josh’s tea-colored eyes which were watery._

_“Not like this,” Josh said with determination and acuity that Tyler had none of at the moment, “we do this on our terms. Not because some sicko stalker extorted us.”_

_“Besides, our fans deserve better than to find out on freaking TMZ or something,” Josh added, “we’re going to do this the right way. When we’re ready.” With sudden clarity, Tyler realized that he was right. He nodded solemnly and took his hand._

_The next morning, he and Josh went to the bank, as soon as it opened, to withdraw the money and the process was excruciating. They’d had to meet with the bank manager individually and explain why they wanted to withdraw such a large sum of cash. They had decided the night before that they would say that they were going donate large amounts of cash to various organizations to avoid writing checks and essentially chocked it up to laziness and paranoia. However, considering the wait time it required to gather the insanely large quantity of money, the bank manager was skeptical but there was little they could do to stop them. In the end, the manager told them it would take two days to gather the funds, which was more time than Tyler was comfortable with._

_Thankfully, on the second day, the bank manager called and shortly after they both were leaving the bank with suitcases stuffed with $500,000 in one-hundred dollar bills. They stashed the money in Josh’s childhood bedroom. Tyler couldn’t risk the chance that Jenna would stumble upon it. So, with the money part of the deal settled, all that was left to do was wait. Sleepless, the pair exchanged text messages throughout the night, working out how exactly the deal would go down. Tyler wished that he had made his decision far sooner. Then this creep who was blackmailing would be just that, a creep, instead of someone with the capacity to blow their whole lives apart._

_At last, the day arrived, and Josh and Tyler arrived at the park early for fear of the owner of the voice trying to renege or change the plans at the last second. At 9 p.m. on the dot, a black sedan pulled into a parking spot adjacent to theirs and flashed their headlights. The boys exchanged a weary look and exited Tyler’s car with the suitcases in hand. As they crossed the parking lot, the lovers glanced nervously around the lot for onlookers. As they approached, a small figure stepped from the vehicle._

_It was a young woman in a long coat and fedora who stood before them, a manila envelope tucked under her arms._

_“Hello, boys,” she purred as they met her. Tyler was surprised to find that even without the voice modulation, her speech chilled his bones. Tyler bubbled with rage and Josh sensing this, gently touched his wrist._

_Noticing the suitcases, the young woman asked, “oh, for me? You shouldn’t have!”_

_“Do you think that this is funny?” Tyler asked with unbridled rage. Josh tightened his grip on Tyler’s wrist as though he feared he may swing at her._

_“Actually,” she answered with a tinkling laugh, “I do. Thanks to your irresponsibility, I’m going to be set for life.” Tyler gritted his teeth._

_“Ahaha,” Josh replied sarcastically, “super hilarious. Give us the pictures.” She smiled menacingly at the yellow-haired man and held the envelope out toward them. Josh dropped Tyler’s wrist to grab it but at the last second, she pulled it away. For a second, Tyler thought he really might punch her._

_“Ah. Ah. Ah,” she taunted, her dark eyes glittering with malevolence, “money first.” She tucked the envelope into her jacket and gestured for them to place their suitcases on the hood of her car. Tyler growled, and he and Josh lay them down on the cool metal. As they stepped away, she unclipped them both and flipped them both open. The pair watching as her eyes widened as though she never had really thought that they’d come through and where it, maybe, should have made Tyler feel sympathy for her, it only served to further enrage him._

_She clipped the cases shut and they watched as she placed them in the passenger seat of her car. She turned and gave them a sickly sweet smile. Finally, she removed the envelope from her coat and handed it to Josh. Tyler watched with mortification as his lover unfolded the flap and checked its contents. Inside were several incriminating photos and a memory card._

_The woman gripped her car door and chuckled, “it’s been an absolute pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.”_

_“Wait,” Tyler called after her. She stilled for a moment._

_“How do we know that you’ll keep your word?” he demanded._

_“You don’t,” she said with a self-satisfied grin, “but I got what I wanted and now, I’m done with you.”_

_“You know,” Josh started, his face screwed up in a frown, “I really, really don’t like to curse but you’re a real bitch.” She blew Josh a kiss in response and Tyler kind of lost it in that moment. He lunged for her, only to be stopped by Josh’s arms around him. She jumped in her car with wide, fearful eyes, that made Tyler feel a little vindicated and sped off._

_Afterward, they burned the pictures and the memory card and rode back to Columbus in silence. Josh held his hand as he drove, and Tyler vowed to himself that he would never put his friend through something like this, again. He knew then, that it was time to stop hesitating and be the partner that Josh deserved._

**-**

Tyler groaned in frustration as the van sputtered to a stop. Zack gave Tyler a look so full of contempt that the older brother actually flinched. Evie slammed the car into park as though it was going anywhere any time soon. With a sigh, Tyler slid open the back door and stepped outside. Once outside, the trio stared aimlessly at the defunct van.

“Well,” Zack started grumpily, “we need to find another form of transportation or some gas.”

“Where do we start?” Tyler asked, readily.

“Oh, no,” Zack snapped, “you’re the reason we ran out of gas. You’re going to stay here and guard our stuff.” Tyler didn’t bother to tell him that they’d have likely run out of gas before they made it to California, regardless.

            Zack looked to Evie, “you’re with me, kid.” Evie gave Tyler a pleading glance, but he shrugged as though to say that there was nothing he could do. He turned his withering glance back to his Tyler. He pulled his handgun from the holster and held it, handle out, to Tyler.

“Take it, Tyler,” Zack said after Tyler stood there blankly. Zack, being a product of the Midwest, had used guns for hunting but Tyler had never been able to stomach the idea of killing things, especially for sport. Since his dad kept guns in the house, he and all his siblings were well-versed in gun safety, but Tyler was no less reluctant as he took the gun.

            “Fire a round in the air if you get into any trouble,” Zack told his stubborn older brother. Tyler rolled his eyes and climbed into the driver seat, leaving Evie at Zack’s mercy.

“Let’s head out,” Zack told her, “that guy couldn’t be more than a mile or so back.” So, the pair set off into Albuquerque and if it was run down before it was absolutely decayed, now but like many of the cities they’d seen since reaching the west, the people were rebuilding from the ashes. However, just like Elk City, the cars were pushed to the sides of the road, their gas most likely already drained to power generators and military vehicles. Zack thought the military was growing steadily greedier without a government to keep them in check.

            The pair wandered around the city, Zack growing more and more anxious the longer they went without finding something salvageable. He didn’t want to leave Tyler alone. He knew Tyler was aware of proper gun safety, but with his reluctance to hurt other beings and his lack of experience, Zack wasn’t sure that Tyler could defend himself alone. He just wanted to hurry up and find Josh and go home to his family. He missed Tatum and Pepper. He thought of them constantly, but he knew that his brother would be dead if he hadn’t joined him. That thought was too painful to bear.

            “So, why don’t you like Tyler?” Evie asked, dragging him from his thought.

Zack was puzzled, “what are you talking about?”

The girl blushed, “you’re always yelling at him and you guys fight all the time.”

Zack sighed and tried to explain how he felt, “I love Tyler. He’s my big brother and he’s a great person-“

“Wait,” the red-haired girl interrupted, “Tyler is older than you?” Zack laughed.

“Yeah, by a year,” he admitted.

“But he seems so…,” Evie trailed off.

“Young?” Zack inquired with a smile, “people always think I’m older.”

            Evie nodded and waited for Zack to go on with his original point as they continued down the road.

“Tyler is so stubborn,” Zack began, “he was determined to make this trip to find Josh but he’s unwilling to make the hard choices to get there. It gets us both into dangerous crap. The guy in the truck… I killed his twin to protect Tyler. I didn’t want to do it. I had hoped we had gotten lucky and they were all asleep, but he had a knife to Tyler’s throat and he wasn’t playing around. Tyler just froze up and I… I couldn’t just stand there and watch him kill my brother.”

            Evie listened quietly as they walked.

“But the only reason we were there was that Tyler made a deal with this old guy in exchange for the gas that had gotten us this far. Tyler is a damned hopeless romantic. I mean, the guy’s trekking halfway through the country during a fricking natural disaster to save the guy he loves without knowing whether he’s alive or dead,” Zack said with admiration, “so, short answer, I don’t not like Tyler. I just want him to make better choices and to be safe like any normal brother wants. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. Brothers argue sometimes. It’s inevitable.”

            Evie was just about to respond when they came upon a crumbling bike shop. The pair looked triumphantly at one another and headed toward the building. One half of the building was nearly completely collapsed but Zack and Evie managed to slip in through a hole in the wall. Zack was discouraged by what he saw. Only the checkout area of the store had been salvaged. A majority of the bicycles were completely destroyed and the ones that looked like they had any hope of being fixed were beyond Zack’s level of expertise.

            “What do we do now?” Evie asked for the second time that day and Zack had to admit he didn’t know where to go from here.

“Um, I guess we dig around for anything useful,” Zack directed hesitantly. So, the pair began digging amongst the rubble, turning up nothing other than a pair of fingerless leather gloves that Zack thought Tyler would like.

“Hello?” a muffled voice called, suddenly, “is someone there?”

            “Where are you?” Evie called out in return before Zack could stop her.

“The bathroom,” the feeble voice cried, “I’m in the bathroom!” That’s when Zack noticed a door blocked off by a pile of wreckage. He sighed, and he and Evie began to dig. It took far longer than he was comfortable with but gradually, the door became completely visible. He yanked the door open and inside sat a middle-aged gentleman.

            He was so grateful that he wrapped Zack in a weak hug. He smelled like body odor, but Zack wasn’t about to pull away. This man had likely been trapped in this bathroom for five days.

“The taps worked for the first day,” the man explained while scarfing down a can of green beans Zack had given him, “day two, the water that came out was brown and didn’t smell right. I’ve been surviving by drinking the water from the tank. It ran out last night and I suppose if I got desperate, I’d have drunk the water from the bowl, too.” Evie looked a little green at the suggestion, but Zack nodded him, impatiently, on. He hoped this man could help them salvage a few of these bikes.

“I guess if you guys hadn’t shown up, I’d have been dead within a week,” the man said before dumping the last bit of the green beans into his mouth, “is there anything I do to repay you?”

            Zack explained their situation to him and the man listened quietly.

“Well,” the man started looking around at the wreckage, “the problem is that even the bikes that aren’t irreparable have considerable damage to their frames and I don’t have the equipment to fix them. I had to ship them away to a cousin of mine in Arizona.” Zack slumped against the wall, hopelessly.

“However, I might have a solution to your gas problem,” the man explained, standing on unsteady limbs.

            “This place had backupup generator but judging by the state of it,” he paused to frown and look around his shop, “I doubt I’ll be needing it anytime soon.” He led Evie and Zack to a cracked but relatively unscathed house a few blocks away and gave them two cans full of gas. Zack gave him the rest of the junk food in his travel pack and two bottles of water and they left him to return to the van and continue on toward California.

            They were about two blocks from city limits when Zack and Evie heard the distinct sound of a gunshot. Before he could even think about what was happening, Zack was running, gas cans sloshing at his sides. By the time the van rose into sight, Zack and Evie were gasping for breath. Tyler was standing frozen against the van, surrounded by four men.

            Zack launched into action, immediately. He pushed the gas cans into Evie’s hands and ripped his knife from its sheath.

“Stay here,” he shouted and took off, in a run toward his brother.

“Get away from him!” Zack screamed as he neared. The men turned, each more menacing that the last. One of the men, a scrappy looking guy with beady eyes and greasy blonde hair, held Tyler by the shoulder. Tyler’s eyes were wide as saucers and he had a thousand-yard stare going, as the gun hung loosely from his right hand and Zack knew that he had frozen up again.

            “I said get away from my brother!” Zack exclaimed, brandishing the knife.

“Your brother, eh?” the beady-eyed guy snarled, not loosening his tight grip on Tyler’s shoulder.

“Who the hell are you people?” Zack demanded, sweat forming on his brow.

“Well, now,” the beady-eyed man chuckled, “I’m Perry and we work for the man whose brother YOUR brother killed. We came all this way to return the favor.” Zack’s heart was pounding from fright, but he refused to let them see it.

He screwed on the cruelest grin he could muster and spat, “then you’ve got the wrong brother. I’m the one who killed him.” Perry’s jaw dropped, and he squared his gaze at Zack and finally released his hold on Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler stood stock still, but his wide eyes watched in terror and he felt trapped in his own body.

            The men started towards Zack and Perry held up a hand to stop them.

“Let me handle this,” Perry commanded heinously. He bent to rip a knife from his boot and ran at Zack. Tyler watched all of this unfold with this deepest terror he’d ever felt, even greater than that caused by the quake. Zack managed to step out of Perry’s way but in no time, Perry was back at him, slicing wildly with his hunting knife. Zack dodged him relatively easy but after a minute it became clear that Perry’s goal wasn’t to hit Zack with any of these reckless blows. Zack was already over-exerted, and he was beginning to slow down.

            In desperation, Zack swung out and managed to slice Perry’s scabbed face, but the beady-eyed lackey didn’t even react. He began to circle around Zack, still slashing with his blade and showing no signs of slowing down. The other lackeys were cheering and Tyler, seemingly completely forgotten, was at war with his body, begging his hands to work, if only to cause a distraction. Zack had accumulated quite a few cuts and was steadily growing slower.

            It took one wrong step. Zack half-tripped over one of his feet and Perry pounced upon him like a lion upon a gazelle. With a savage growl, he closed the gap between him and Zack. Zack tried desperately to step away. His eyes caught Tyler’s almost pleading but the older sibling was locked inside his mind. Perry thrust his knife toward Zack and it hit its mark. Zack’s jaw dropped as though surprised. He fell to his knees, Perry’s blade embedded in his abdomen and blood soaking through his clothes. He met Tyler’s eyes and fell wordlessly on to his back.

            The spell was broken, suddenly. Tyler let out a scream so blood-curdling he couldn’t believe it resonated from his own body. His vision whited out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my friend, Mary for effectively betaing this fic for me. I know this is highly ambitious but with your support and suggestions, we can save Josh. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and see you next chapter.


End file.
